Structural Evolution of Wadi Hudaydun in Wadi Shueib Area, NW Jordan.

The study area of Wadi Hudaydun and its surroundings forms part of the 80 km long and NE trending Wadi Shueib Structure in northwestern Jordan. The area is predominated by the Late Cretaceous carbonates with minor bedded cherts and phosphorites of the Ajlun and Belqa Groups. A complex structural style is revealed during the measuring and mapping of the main structural elements. The major area's structures consist of two fold belts; Al Baqr - Hudaydun fold belt and Ath-Thughra fold belt intersected by a complex structural style of fault zones. These faulting systems are normal faults, striking WNW-ESE and N-E, while those trending NW-SE are of the thrusting type. Dextral and sinestral strike-slip faults are also recognized in the area. With the aid of fieldwork observations and the use of "Multiple Inverse Method Software Package", the main stress axes are obtained. The results of the current study suppose that most of the geological structures in the investigated area follow two tectonic events. The major one is associated with the Late Cretaceous stress pattern, which is presumed to have occurred during the formation of the Shueib Structure, and produced the NNE-SSW folds of Al Baqr-Hudaydun belt. Its maximum and minimum compressive axes (s1 and s3) are trending towards the WNW-ESE and NNE-SSW, respectively. The minor tectonic phase can be either correlated to a local stress or may even be attached to the primary stresses of the Dead Sea Fault (DSS). Its trend, probably swinging towards the N-S direction, has produced Ath-thughra fold belt. Two distinctive compressional structures are observed in the studied area as well; they are the fault-propagation fold and the strike-slip fault. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]