## 5 Paleomagnetic Mapping
### Paleomagnetic Mapping in Southern Israel  
Makhtesh Ramon Paleomagnetic Map  
According to our previous geological-geophysical studies, e.g., [20; 57], the Makhtesh Ramon block is a marginal subterrane of the relatively large Negev terrane. This terrane is the extreme southwestern part of the MTB, collisional articulated with the Arabian-Nubian part of Gondwana. This fact explains the greatest complexity of the Ramon subterrane structure, which contains various tectonic-structural elements formed during the pre-collisional, collisional, and post-collision stages of its paleogeodynamics. The subterrane (Figure 23) has a wedge-shaped outline, the narrowed part of which is in the southwest and extends to the northeast. The paleomagnetic scheme (Figure 23A) and the diagram of the historical and geodynamic reconstructions (Figure 23B) conventionally depict not all subterrane but the edge (outline) of its submerged part corresponding to the erosion-tectonic depression, enclosing outcrops of the Mesozoic rocks (Lower Cretaceous, Jurassic and Triassic) and Late Cenozoic [79]. These rocks are permeated by a variety of Mesozoic traps, whose radiometric ages range from 165.7 to 93.8 Ma [115] and contain the scattered outcrops of the ophiolite plates of the Saharonim basalts [21], the radiometric age of which is refined within 205 and 207 Ma [117]. They correspond in age to the Illawarra-2 superzone, confirming the paleomagnetic studies' data [118], and determining their normal polarity. Ophiolites meet the accretionary stage associated with the absorption of the Triassic-Jurassic crust of the Levantine part of the Neotethy's Ocean in the middle of the Hauterivian (Early Cretaceous) about 133 million years ago in the Levantine phase of tectogenesis [20; 23]. The pre-collision formations preceding this phase are represented by the basaltic radial dike swarms of the Omolon-2 and Gissar superzones and the lacolites and stocks of the alkalalic olivine gabbro, monzogabbro, and svenites [119; 120]. The mentioned magmatic associations are confined to the Gissar superzone and the initial stages of its transition to the Jalal-1 superzone corresponding to the epoch of the tectonic collision--135-125 million years ago. One of the most significant indicators of this collision is a change in the magmatism nature and bridging with the formation of a folded block structure Makhtesh Ramon. In this erosion-tectonic structure, among the Lower Jurassic sandstones of the Inmar Formation, a unique outcrop of Upper Jurassic (Oxfordian) limestones of the Beer Sheva Formation, penetrated by Lower Cretaceous volcanic rocks, was found [107]. The authors of the abovementioned work explained the presence of this single outcrop by the presence of a graben in which the Oxford limestones were preserved from erosion. These exotic formations in other areas of Makhtesh Ramon are absent, as well as in the adjacent sections of the Hameishar subterrane and southern Avdat subterrane--in the Nafha-1, Nafha-2, and Avdat-1 boreholes. The Oxford limestones were preserved from erosion only at 30 or more kilometers to the north and northwest--in the sections of the Bouger-1 and Shezaf-1 boreholes [121]. The amplitude of uplift of the Ramon subterrane in the Levantine phase, judging by the thickness of the Upper and partly Middle Jurassic rocks subjected to early secondary erosion, is about 700 m.  
As a result of a comprehensive structural-geodynamic analysis [21], the reasons for the anomalous removal to the day surface in the Ma'ale Ha'atzmaut area (see Figure 23A) of blocks of these limestones (tens of meters in size) were identified. This process is due to ascending volcanic movements that have passed through the underthrust zone between the Avdat and Ramon subterranes, where these limestones are submerged under older rocks. This deep removal is significant evidence of the geodynamic intensity of movements of the Levantine phase of tectogenesis [23] at the boundary between Gondwana and the Neotethy's Ocean.