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Half a Centimeter a Year That Created the Lowest Point on Earth, and: Where Did the Other Half of Timna Wander Off To?

The highest peak (in Israel) of Mount Hermon and the lowest point (in the world) of the Dead Sea are the direct result of a fascinating geological phenomenon involving a dual movement of tectonic plates: the separation of the plates from each other (east and west) and the northward movement of the eastern plate. Incredible!


Israel is situated exactly on the seam between two tectonic plates: the Arabian Plate to the east, and the Sinai Sub-plate (which is essentially part of the African Plate) to the west. The separation of these plates from each other (to the east and west) began about 17 to 20 million years ago, creating the long fault line we know as the "Dead Sea Rift."


Since their separation to the east and west, both plates have been moving northward, but the Arabian Plate moves faster, thereby sliding past the Sinai Plate. This horizontal movement, where the plates rub against and slide past one another, has created immense topographical changes, the most visible of which are the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee, and Mount Hermon.


Another amazing phenomenon created by this movement is the geological parallel between the two sides of the Dead Sea Rift; the eastern part moves northward faster at a rate of about half a centimeter per year, which translates to roughly 50 meters every 10,000 years. Today, 20 million years after the shift began, what was once part of the western side prior to the separation can now be found 105 kilometers further north on the eastern side. For example, the copper mines of Timna (on the western side) are located on the eastern side 105 km further north in Punon (Arabic: Faynan).


The fault line along which the plates slide past each other is not perfectly straight—it zigzags and changes angles along its path. In places where the fault line creates a gap between the plates, tremendous tensional forces are generated: the plates pull away from each other, and an area known as a "pull-apart basin" forms between the fault segments—a depression where the ground has gradually sunk over millions of years. This geological subsidence is what created the major depressions that make up the rift valley: the Jordan Valley depression, the basin where the waters of the Sea of Galilee gather, and the deepest of them all—the Dead Sea basin, the lowest point on the surface of Earth's continents.


Conversely, when the fault line curves in the opposite direction—particularly in the region of Lebanon and southern Syria—the plates do not move apart but rather compress and push against each other with tremendous force, a phenomenon geologists call a "restraining bend." The immense tectonic pressure forces the ground to fold and be thrust upwards. This is exactly how Mount Hermon was formed. The massive limestone rocks that make up the mountain, originally formed at the bottom of the ancient Tethys Sea some 100–170 million years ago, were folded and pushed thousands of meters skyward until they formed the high and impressive mountain range of the Hermon.


The Land of Israel is a "living laboratory" of planet Earth. The powerful forces of nature that split the ground and raised it in other places continue to operate and move right at this very moment, directly beneath our feet.

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Image 1 - The separation of the tectonic plates and their movement, which created the topography we are familiar with today. The illustration is by Arie Bar. Arie is a certified tour guide and also the creator of the best and most effective visual aids and guiding tools available. I use Arie's materials extensively, and I highly recommend visiting Arie Bar's website: https://ariebar.com


Images 2 & 3 - A NASA satellite image showing the northern section of the Syrian-African Rift. My additions: the fault line (in red) and the names of well-known landmarks.





Image 4 - An illustration of the elevation profile of the Land of Israel, from west to east. Source: Geography Education website.



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