Mount Sedom is the surface expression of a salt diapir that has emerged since the Pleistocene in the southwestern part of the Dead Sea basin. Milestones in the uplift history of the Sedom salt diapir since its inception were deduced from angular and erosional unconformities, thickness variations, caprock formation, chemistry and isotope composition of lacustrine aragonite, cave morphology, precise leveling, and satellite geodesy. Thickness variations of the overburden observed in transverse seismic lines suggest that significant growth of the Sedom diapir may have initiated only after this thickness exceeded ∼2400 m in the Late Pliocene. The formation of the caprock signifies the arrival of the Sedom diapir from depth to the dissolution level between 300,000–100,000 yr B.P. During this period and later, angular and erosional unconformities in the upper part of the overburden near Mount Sedom are attributed to the piercing diapir. Rapid solution of rock salt from parts of Mount Sedom inundated by Lake Lisan after ca. 40,000 yr B.P. is inferred from Na/Ca ratios in aragonite and their relation to δ 13 C. On the mountain itself, the older parts (70,000–43,000 yr B.P.) of the lacustrine Lisan Formation are missing. The top of the preserved sediments is covered by alluvial sediments that must have been deposited when the elevation of Mount Sedom was not higher than 265 m below sea level (mbsl) at ca. 14,000 yr B.P. The present elevation of these sediments at 190 mbsl indicates an average uplift rate of ∼5 mm/yr over the past 14,000 yr. Similar uplift rates of 6–9 mm/yr are inferred for the Holocene from displacement of the “salt mirror” and hanging passages of caves. The present uplift rate, calculated from precise leveling and interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR), is similar to the average Holocene rate. Based on the gathered data, we reconstruct the topographic rise of Sedom diapir and its relation to lake level variations during the late Pleistocene and Holocene.

Recent studies on the evolution of the Dead Sea basin have shed light on the intricate tectonic regime of the area. Combined with newly available data from Jordan, a new picture of a symmetrical deep basin is emerging. Salt is prevalent over the entire width of the basin in the south. The original thickness of this layer was calculated to be ∼2 km, but at present it does not exceed 900 m. Crustal studies indicate a difference between the southern and northern basins, which are separated by a large, normal fault. Depth to the basement in the northern basin is estimated to be 6–8 km, while that of the southern basin is 12 km. Relocation of deep earthquakes revealed that the majority of well-constrained micro-earthquakes (M L ≤ 3.2) occurred at depths much deeper than previously expected (20–32 km). Seismicity and the low value of regional heat flow suggest that the lower crust might be cool and brittle. A lithospheric strength profile was calculated, indicating a narrow brittle-to-ductile transition at a depth of 31 km. Uplift measurements, submersible studies, and combined geological-geophysical mapping are some of the new techniques applied to the area to solve the complex neotectonic structure. Results indicate that the southern and northern basins are both currently active. In addition to tectonics, activity is also inferred by the presence of salt diapirs, whose uplift or subsidence may be related to current motion along active faults. Discrepancies in earthquake-reoccurrence times may indicate that the main fault in the northern Dead Sea basin, the Jericho fault (also known as the Jordan fault), is segmented, or that earthquakes occur in clusters. One such segment is responsible for the formation of a small subbasin on the northwestern shore of the lake, the Qumran basin, whose complex neotectonic regime includes strike-slip, reverse and normal faulting, folding, right bending splays, and a migrating depocenter. Recent global positioning system measurements provide slip-rates of 2.6–3.8 mm/yr for the current plate motion in this area. An open crack between the seafloor and a sharp bathymetric cliff in the lake provides visual evidence for this motion, while data from shallow seismic surveys present paleoseismic information on this activity.