Syrian Arc

The Syrian Arc is a series of fold structures that extend from Syria, through Lebanon and Israel/Palestine into northern Sinai and on into Egypt's Eastern and Western deserts.

The area of folding continues to the east forming a broad zone about 200 km wide passing into the Eastern Desert, including major structures such as Kattaniya and the breached anticline at Wadi Araba, near the Dead Sea on the western side of the Gulf of Suez.

The left lateral offset of the Palmyrides against the other part of the Syrian Arc across the Dead Sea Transform has been estimated as a maximum of about 107 km.

Some of the structures were further modified in the Cenozoic during the formation of the Dead Sea Transform and the continued northward movement of the Arabian Plate.

This prolonged extensional episode formed a large number of sedimentary basins within the passive margin, with a mainly Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous fill.