From Fault Fabric to Early Warning: High-Resolution Geomorphology and Enhanced DInSAR Over the SP-0B Saltworks, Dead Sea, Jordan

Abstract

The 40 m fall of the Dead Sea since 1980 has relieved roughly 0.48 MPa of
hydrostatic load on the Lisan Peninsula and accelerated halite dissolution and sinkhole
formation beneath the Arab Potash Company’s rehabilitated pond SP-0B. To quantify and
anticipate this hazard, we fuse two complementary data streams. First, six decades of aerial
photographs, CORONA frames, multispectral scenes and sub-meter imagery were
orthorectified and stacked to create morpho-tectonic maps that pinpoint transform-parallel
splays, diapiric joints and an active sinkhole belt—structural corridors that concentrate
groundwater flow. Second, 2015–2025 Sentinel-1 interferograms were processed with a
“sibling-coherence” filter that clusters pixels with similar amplitude statistics, preserving sharp
deformation gradients and boosting reliable-pixel density by 20–30 % over conventional box
car averaging. The result is a 6- to 12-day displacement cube with centimeter precision.
Integrating the static map with these ground-motion data partitions the pond into watch cells:
trial thresholds of |dLOS| > 6 mm in 12 days or any positive acceleration flag cells where
intensified field inspections, denser sensor sampling and temporary throttling of brine inflow
are advised; three simultaneous breaches warrant halting impoundment. In the planned early
warning system, InSAR-derived motions will be cross-validated with extensometers,
piezometers and episodic GNSS to confirm magnitudes. The twin-layer workflow therefore
provides the quantitative backbone for a basin-scale warning scheme and a transferable
template for evaporite basins undergoing rapid base-level decline.