Abstract
The northern Dead Sea transform is markedly different from the southern segments of the transform. The strike of the transform changes in this area that forms a restraining bend, and the displacement on it is much less than that on the southern and central Dead Sea transform. The structure and evolution of the northern Dead Sea transform was simulated using a rheological model of a visco-elastic material that takes into consideration the crustal structure variations in this area and the proximity to the collisional belts along the Cyprean arc and the Taurus Mountains. The simulation can explain the formation of the restraining bend, known in this area as the Yammuneh fault, and the faulting along the northern Levant continental margin, providing that a simultaneous propagation of the Dead Sea transform from the north and south took place. This suggests that restraining bends in general, which are common features along continental transform faults, are formed when two segments of a transform propagate toward each other.
