Paleostress Determination and Structural Analysis of the Area between Amman and Qasr Al-Hallabat, North Jordan

This research derives paleostress tensors for deformation affecting late Cretaceous rocks between Amman and Al-Hallabat, northern Jordan and reconstructs the region's tectonic history. Three distinct formations are exposed in the investigated area: Wadi As Sir (Turonian), Wadi Umm Ghudran (Santonin), and Amman silicified limestone (Campanian). The stress inversion is derived from data collected on the fault-slip at four different locations, revealing both extensional and compressive regimes. The research region is divided into two sectors based on these paleostress regimes: a SW sector dominated by extensional to transtensive stress regimes (with a stress index varying from 0.68 to 0.80) and a NE sector characterized by compression (with a stress index ranging from 2.60 to 2.65). Furthermore, the SE stress sector is found to be consistent with the NNW-SSE Neogene extension. In contrast, the NE stress sector was associated with a Syrian Arc Stress Field orientated E-W to ESE-WNW throughout the late Cretaceous. Fracture analysis identifies two types of fractures within the study area: shear and extensional. Both fractures correspond with fault-slip data and inferred stress direction.