The Hula Valley subsurface structure inferred from gravity data

We use the 3-D gravity inversion technique to model the shape of the Hula basin, a pull-apart basin along the Dead Sea Transform. The interpretation was constrained using the Notera-3-well density logs and current geological knowledge. The model obtained by inversion shows a rhomb-shaped graben filled with approximately 4 km of young sediments in the deepest part of the basin. The reliability of this model was verified using 3-D forward modeling with an accuracy of 0.5 km. Curvature attributes of the gravity field depict the main fault pattern, suggesting that the Hula basin is a subsiding rhomb-shaped graben, bordered by steep-sided, deep basement faults on the western and eastern sides (Qiryat Shemona and Jordan River faults) and by gradual, en-echelon step faults on the southern and northern margins of the basin. ?? 2003 Laser Pages Publishing Ltd.