Isr. J. Earth Sci.; 58: 237–255 DOI: 10.1560/IJES.58.3-4.237 © 2011 Science From Israel/ LPPLtd. 0021-2164/09 $4.00 E-mail: motis@vms.huji.ac.il Chronometry of paleo-earthquakes in the late Quaternary Dead Sea basin Mordechai Stein Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel Street, Jerusalem 95501, Israel (Received May 10, 2010; accepted in revised form January 1, 2011) AbStrACt Stein, M. 2009/2010. Chronometry of paleo-earthquakes in the late Quaternary Dead Sea basin. Isr. J. Earth Sci 58: 237–255. This paper summarizes the research efforts that were devoted during the past two decades to establishing an accurate high-resolution chronology for the paleo-seismic history of the Dead Sea basin (DSB) and its vicinity. This task was achieved by docu- menting and dating of earthquake-induced sedimentary structures (termed seismites) that are exposed in the lacustrine sedimentary sequences of the Dead Sea basin. Dat- ing was done by the U–Th disequilibrium method on primary aragonites deposited from the basin’s paleo-lakes, and by radiocarbon dating of terrestrial organic debris that yield atmospheric 14 C ages. Based on new age constraints and lithological–lim- nological information (e.g., lake level reconstructions) this paper re-evaluates the paleo-seismic chronology of the late Pleistocene Lake Lisan. While long-term (~10 kyr) clustering of seismites is not supported by the revised chronology, the temporal pattern of earthquake activity in the vicinity of Lake Lisan appears to be characterized by alternating intervals of enhanced and reduced activity that lasted for ~1000 years. The Holocene record indicates a similar pattern of alternating intervals of ~1000 years where enhanced or reduced seismic activity occurred along the northern and southern segments of the Dead Sea Transform (DST). Signiicant seismic events in the northern segment of the DST show recurrence time of ~200 years. The complementary picture for the southern segments of the DST can be derived from sedimentary archives in the southern Arava valley (e.g., playa and luvial deposits) and the Gulf of Aqaba (e.g., corals). However, the luvial deposits are dated mainly by the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) method, which involves relatively large uncertainties. The corals provide precise U–Th ages but they exhibit only a few discrete paleo-seismic episodes (e.g., ~4.7 and ~2.4 ka BP). Nevertheless, both archives indicate enhanced seismic activity along the southern segment of the DST at and before the irst millennium CE. 1. IntroDuCtIon The ield of paleo-seismicity has seen a signiicant increase in activity during the past few decades, with various types of geological archives explored for the establishment of recurrence patterns and characterization of paleo-earthquakes (e.g., early works of K.R. Lajoie (1986), R.L. Edwards (Edwards et al., 1988), K. Sieh (Sieh et al., 1989), and Y. Ota (Ota and Chappell, 1996)). This paper focuses on the pioneering work done by several researchers who have devoted extensive efforts over the past two decades to explore various paleo-seismic archives in Israel and the vicinity. Among these archives: lake sediments (Marco