Mazarine Deep Blue, Oldest Paris Public Library Mazarine, and Transform Faults of the Deep Dead Sea

           Any day I learn a new word, especially a colorful one, is a good day. Mazarine blue made Tuesday for me this week:

           Apparently it is all the rage in athletic footwear colors as an internet search of images produced butterflies,

shirts,

and an inordinate amount of running shoes:

       
           It is also the name of the oldest public library in Paris, dating to 1643:

     How to get from a deep, deep blue, to the oldest public library in Paris, to the lowest elevation on earth (excluding subsea topography, of course) in the Rift Valley of the Dead Sea?

          Just look at that mazarine blue color of the Dead Sea, which is up to 34 percent saline, nine times the salinity of the ocean, and is over 1,000 feet at its deepest point. The Dead Sea straddles Israel/Palestine to the west and Jordan to the east:

     The Dead Sea is part of the longer and larger rift zone extending from the Red Sea through the Gulf of Aqaba and through the Dead Sea via the Dead Sea Rift Zone or Dead Sea Transform Fault:
         

          This left lateral-moving transform fault lies along the tectonic plate boundary between the African Tectonic Plate and the Arabian Tectonic Plate. It runs between the East Anatolian Fault zone in Turkey and the northern end of the Red Sea Rift offshore of the southern tip of Sinai Peninsula.

          The geologic history of the area is the subject of much debate. It is a complicated area both geologically and politically.

          The blue of the Dead Sea water approaches Mazarine Blue, yes?

          Mazarine Blue: new to you? Thoughts on the Dead Sea transform fault and the Dead Sea rift zone?

Happy Mazarine Blue Thanksgiving!
Steph