THE ROLE OF REMOTE SENSING IN DETECTING ACTIVE 
AND FRESH FAULTING ZONES 
CASE STUDY: NORTHWEST OF SYRIA, AL-GHAB GRABEN COMPLEX 
MOUTAZ DALATI 
General Organization for Remote Sensing ( GORS ), Damascus, Syria. E-Mail : dalati.m@mail.sy 
Keywords: Remote Sensing, Thematic, Geology, Data Structures, SAR, DEM/DTM, Interferometer. 
ABSTRACT: 
Northwest of Syria is part of one of the very active deformation belt on the Earth today. This area and the western part of Syria are 
located along the great rift system (Left-Lateral or African- Syrian Rift System). Those areas are tectonically active and caused a lot 
of seismically events. The AL-Ghab Graben complex is situated within this wide area of Cenozoic deformation. The system formed, 
initially, as a result of the break up of the Arabian plate from the African plate since the mid-Cenozoic. The Arabian plate is moving 
in a NNW direction, whereas the African plate is moving to the North. The left-lateral motion along the Dead Sea Fault Zone 
accommodates the difference in movement rate between both plates. Some 80 km to the North of AL-Ghab Graben both plates move 
into the Anatolian plate, which causes the latter to move to the West. 
The analysis of TM Space Imagery and digital image processing of spectral data show that the lineaments along AL-Ghab Graben 
may be considered as linear Conjunctions accompanied with complex fracturing system. This complex is affected by distance 
stresses accompanied with intensive forces. This action indicates that these sites are active and in a continual movement. In addition 
to that, the statistic analysis of Thematic Mapper data and the features from a digital elevation model ( DEM ) produced from SAR 
interferometry show the existence of spectral structures at the same sites. 
INTRODUCTION trough is filled with Pliocene lacustrine sediments. The 
Pliocene sediments are covered with a thin sheet of Quaternary 
The area under study is located in the Northwestern part of lacustrine sediments. This part of the Graben is called the AL- 
Syria (fig.1). The AL-Ghab Graben is limited from the West by Ghab trough. The occurrence of the Pliovene deposits in the 
the steep slope of the Jabal An-Nusseiriyeh range and from the trough is practically horizontal. The thickness of the Pliocene 
lacustrine sediments was fully measured only at the Eastern 
slope in the Southern part of the trough. There it equals 90 m. 
In other places wells drilled down to depth of 150 m did not 
strike the basal part of the Tertiary lacustrine sediments.The 
Northern part of the Graben situated in the territory of Turkey 
opens into the depression of the Buheiret El-*Omq lake. Here 
Pliocene marine deposits are developed. Unlike continental 
deposits, they are also spread in the uplifted block bordering the 
the Graben are gently dipping from the Eastern to Western 
flank of the structure. The AL-Ghab trough is separated from 
the Northern part of the Graben by the rise of the apex in the 
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Figure 1, Showing the area under study ‚the young fault- 
controlled relief of AL-Ghab Graben area. 
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East by the similar steep but less high slope of the Jabal Az- 
  
  
  
  
  
Zawiyeh range (fig.2). As a whole the Graben looks like a flat- Bl 
bottomed ditch about 10 km wide. The Southern part of the 
Graben represents a flat marshy trough up to 15 km wide. The Figure 2, Showing the limitation of AL-Ghab Graben 
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Graben in the West. In general, the beds in the Northern part of 
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