Rifting‐Driven Magmatism Along the Dead Sea Continental Transform Fault

The Dead Sea Fault (DSF) is a crustal-scale continental transform fault separating the African
and the Arabian plates. Neogene to Quaternary volcanic activity is well-spread in Northern Israel. Yet, the
origin of the magmas that fed the eruptions is still unpinned. Our local earthquake tomography depicts velocity
distributions typical of rifting settings. At 9 km depth, a prominent high Vp/Vs anomaly marks the presence
of cooling melts. We propose that protracted transtension along the DSF caused crustal thinning promoting
the emplacement of magmatic bodies. Crustal emplacements of magmas in Northern Israel reconcile multiple
observations, including the high geothermal gradient, the prominent magnetic anomalies and the traces of
mantle-derived fluids in the springs across the Sea of Galilee. We provide a compelling evidence for rifting in
segments of the DSF and identify the potential source of magmatism that fed part of the volcanic activity of the
area.