The Dead Sea rift is a key structural element in a region of tectonic complexity. It is a linear system of faults extending from the Gulf of Aqaba 1,200 km northward to the Taurus Mountains where it veers eastward, and disappears into the overthrust belt. Near the Dead Sea the fault has left-lateral offset of 130 km. The offset diminishes northward. In the Beka'a Valley an eastern branch divides, curves northeastward and loses identity in the Anti-Lebanon and Palmyra folds; a western branch continues northward.

The nature of the fault has been debated for 100 years, but recent exploration in Jordan and Israel provides control for isopach-lithofacies maps which clearly indicate offset strandlines of Cambrian, Triassic, and Cretaceous strata.

Principal movement on the rift occurred in late Oligocene or early Miocene time. The system has been one of weakness since the Precambrian as indicated by a strong north-south joint system in Paleozoic and Precambrian rocks. Offset stream drainage indicates Holocene movement. Oligocene and older rocks spread across northeast Egypt-Sinai without interruption but Miocene-Pliocene strata are confined to a trough in the Gulf of Suez with a meridian width up to 120 km.

The Dead Sea rift is conjugate with the Gulf of Suez-Red Sea block fault (graben) system. The northwest and northeast orientation of these faults is the result of a regional stress couple acting meridionally--the strike of the Dead Sea rift. Marginal foundering increased the width of the Red Sea.

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