(BIN) – The Dead Sea Transform (DST) fault system, also sometimes referred to as the Dead Sea Rift, is a series of faults that run from a junction with the East Anatolian Fault in southeastern Turkey to the northern end of the Red Sea Rift just offshore of the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula.

The fault system forms the transform boundary between the African Plate to the west and the Arabian Plate to the east. The distribution of faults on Earth is not uniform. In some areas, there are no fractures at all, while in other areas there are a very large number of them.

Sometimes a thick layer of soil can hide the fact that beneath it is a fracture, which can sometimes form a deep, wide crack in the rock. This usually occurs when the rock is not strong enough to withstand so much stress, making the rock crack along its weakest point.

The DST is a zone representing the relative motions of the two plates, both of them are moving in a general north-northeast direction, Part of it present in the southern part of the fault, causing the Gulf of Aqaba, the Dead Sea, the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) and Hula basins to form. READ MORE