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Abstract

New findings of the structure of the Dead Sea sedimentary basin and its eastern and western bordering regions are obtained by P and PKP wave relative traveltime residuals of 644 teleseisms, as recorded by the Dead Sea Integrated Research portable seismic network in the Dead Sea basin and its neighboring regions. The Lisan Peninsula is characterized by relatively small teleseismic traveltime residuals of about 0.14 s, in the latitude range of 31.22°–31.37° and at the longitude of 35.50°, slowly decreasing toward the west. The largest teleseismic traveltime residuals are in the southern Dead Sea basin, south of the Lisan Peninsula in the latitude range of 31.05°–31.15° and along longitude 35.45° and continuing southward toward the Amaziahu Fault, reaching values of 0.4–0.5 s. There is a small positive residual at the Amaziahu Fault and a small negative residual south of it probably marking the southern end of the Dead Sea basin. East and west of the Dead Sea basin the mean teleseismic traveltime residuals are negative with overall averages of −0.35 s and −0.45 s, respectively. Using the teleseismic residuals, we estimate the horizontal dimensions of the Lisan salt diapir to be 23 km × 13 km at its widest and a maximal thickness of about 7.2 km. The thickness of the Mount Sodom salt diapir is estimated as 6.2 km.