The Palmyra Fault System is a belt of faults and folds running northeast across central Syria, forming the Palmyride mountain chain between the desert plateaus. It is an intraplate structure that reactivated older basement faults as strain radiated from the nearby Dead Sea Transform and the Arabian collision zone.
The faults combine strike-slip and reverse motion, having inverted a once-deep sedimentary basin into a range of folded ridges over geological time. Present-day slip rates are low, so the belt is far quieter than the neighbouring Dead Sea Fault, but it remains tectonically alive.
Historical accounts and archaeological damage at the ancient city of Palmyra hint at past earthquakes affecting the region, though large instrumental events are rare. The system is studied as an example of intraplate deformation caused by stresses transmitted inland from a major plate boundary.