The thin-skinned extensional belt along the Levant continental margin is commonly explained as a tilting-triggered basinward gliding of a sedimentary section carried downslope by a flowing salt layer. Such gliding systems are relatively understood; they produce extension above salt wedges in many salt basins. In contrast, two "disturbances" offshore, Dor and Palmahim, which deviate from the regular trend, have remained poorly defined since their discovery 50 years ago. Based on detailed seismic mapping, here we describe the so-called disturbances in structural terms. By backward restoration of cross sections, we further reconstruct their evolution and infer their origin.
We distinguish between three types of thin-skinned deformation: (1) 2D extensional belt accompanying salt wedges; (2) The Palmahim rapidly gliding corridor, bounded by two strike-slip faults allowing it to move faster than its surroundings; and (3) The Dor rollover anticline (dome) sliding over a detachment surface coated with salt remnants. For these cases, we demonstrate how the pre-salt relief controlled the subsequent deformation. The Dor rollover anticline developed above a salt-filled bay with amphitheater-like morphology; this structure started to deform immediately after tilting approximately 2.6 million years ago. The Palmahim rapidly gliding corridor formed above the elongated Ashdod-Hanna salt-filled canyon, which is more resistant to failure and yielded much later (possibly 1.8 million years ago and mainly during the last 350 ky). Notably, the nearby salt-filled Afiq Canyon remained stable with no deformation above it. We suggest that its location at the southeastern corner of the Mediterranean, where the direction of salt flow changes along with the continental slope, is the reason for its stability; at this unique location, the northward gliding offshore Sinai restrains the westward gliding offshore Israel. These insights illustrate the interplay between pre-salt relief, sedimentation, and structural deformation in the eastern Mediterranean, with implications for similar systems globally.