Fault damage zones in the Hammam Faraun block, Suez Rift, Egypt

Abstract

Hammam Faraun block is a NW-SE elongated rift block located onshore Sinai Peninsula in the eastern side of the Gulf of Suez between longitudes 32° 52’ 30’’ E and 33° 28’ 34’’ E and latitudes 29o 16’ 12’’ N and 28o 59’ 24’’ N. It occupies an intermediate position between the NE dipping rift blocks of the central half graben of the rift and the SW dipping Sudr block that belongs to the northern half graben. The block is bounded from the south by the E-W Markha fault, from the east by the rift-bounding fault that consists of NNW and NNE linked segments forming the zigzag pattern. The northern edge between the Hammam Faraun block and Sudr block is marked by an anticlinal structure representing the transfer zone between these two oppositely tilted blocks. The block is bounded from the west by the major NW-SE Hammam Faraun Fault which controls the coastline of the Gulf of Suez in this area and extends to the north toward Wadi Gharandal. Hammam Faraun block has a predominant NE dip direction related to the rotation of the hanging wall blocks on the NNW-SSE listric rift-bounding fault at the eastern boundary of the Suez rift.