scholarly journals Basin Progress – Active Deformation Analysis by Tectonostratigraphic Elements and Geophysical Methods on North Anatolian Fault System (Eastern Marmara Region, Turkey)

Author(s):  
Bülent Doğan ◽  
Metin Aşcı ◽  
Ahmet Karakaş ◽  
Ertan Pekşen ◽  
Arzu Erener ◽  
...  

Abstract The Northern Branch of the North Anatolian Fault System controls and deforms the Izmit Basin and the Sapanca Lake Basin in the study area. Unlike the Sapanca Lake Basin, the oblique normal faults with WNW–ESE trending with maximum length of 5 km in the south of the basin have contributed to the deformation process in the formation of Izmit Basin. The fault sets mainly incline to the north. The N-S width of the dextral strike-slip active deformation was determined as 9 km at Izmit basin and 3.8 km at Sapanca Lake basin. Further, the minimum principal stress axes (σ3) vary in the trending ranges of N11°-74° E, which are caused by the transtensional stresses associated with strike-slip faulting in the Izmit Basin by a different tectonic source than the Sapanca Lake Basin. Besides, the crust depth of main strand of NAFS-NB was determined up to 1112 m by magnetic method. The secondary faults were determined by both magnetic and resistivity methods up to a depth of 110 m. The depression area between Izmit bay and Sapanca Lake on the northern Anatolian fault is an integrated basin with two dextral strike-slip tectonic origins. Thus, the Izmit Basin, along with the main strike-slip faulting, has been developed in the asymmetric negative flower structure, where only the southern boundary has become a fault. The Sapanca Lake Basin is a lazy-Z-shaped pull-apart system formed by the E–W trending fault as a releasing bend. A simple shear deformation ellipsoid with a long axis of approximately 35 km on the Northern Branch of the North Anatolian Fault System is defined for the Izmit – Sapanca integrated basin. Therefore, intra-basin deposits have different depths estimated from the gravity data in the Izmit – Sapanca integrated basin, and the maximum sediment thickness estimated is 2200 m in the middle of the Izmit Basin.

Geology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Volkan Karabacak ◽  
Taylan Sançar ◽  
Gökhan Yildirim ◽  
I. Tonguç Uysal

We dated syntectonic calcites on fault planes from the southern branch of the western North Anatolian fault (NAF) in northern Turkey using U-Th geochronology. We selected strike-slip faults that are kinematically related to the current regional strain field. The isotopic ages cluster around different periods during the past ~700 k.y. The most prominent cluster peak of 510.5 ± 9.5 ka (1σ) is consistent with the maximum cumulative strike-slip offset data and tectonic plate motions measured by GPS data, highlighting the fact that the present configuration of the NAF in the southern Marmara region started at ca. 500 ka or earlier. These new isotopic ages, combined with previous considerations of regional tectonics, reveal that faulting along the western NAF initiated primarily in the southern Marmara region at least a few hundred thousand years earlier than the timing suggested for the northern branch of the western NAF. This study presents an innovative approach to constrain the timing of initiation of currently active fault segments along the NAF in southern Marmara. U-Th geochronology of fault-hosted calcite thus has a wide application in determining absolute ages of fault episodes in wider shear zones along plate boundaries.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Volkan Karabacak ◽  
Taylan Sançar ◽  
Yusuf Büyükdeniz

<p>The strike-slip dominated North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) prolongs to the west and furcates into several branches where shear is distributed to multiple parallel/subparallel segments. The earlier structures that resulted from the ongoing Western Anatolian extension had a key role in the fact that the western part of the NAFZ has a wider deformation zone. Although the southern boundary of this zone is controversial, it is proposed that there is a strong interaction between the deformation zones of the NAFZ and Western Anatolian Extensional Province (WAEP) along the northern margin of the Uludag Range. Since this pivotal region marks the transition between the extensional regime and continental strike-slip zone, it is necessary to increase knowledge thereof. Within this ongoing study, we focused on the morphotectonic and paleoseismologic properties of the Ulubat and Bursa faults that delimits the northern boundary of the Uludag Range. The results of the morphometric analyses (topographic symmetry factor, asymmetry factor, hypsometric curve and integral, channel concavity, and integral analyses) that performed on 79 drainage basin to the south of these faults suggested that the vertical motion in the northeastern part of the Uludag Range changes abruptly to strike-slip dominated deformation, along with Ulubat Fault, towards the west of the Bursa basin.</p><p>The 50 km length, dextral Ulubat Fault was mapped in the field by using offset physiographic features and geological evidence. We divided the ENE–WSW striking Ulubat Fault into three segments that present the releasing double-bend geometry. There are two major changes in trends up to 20 degrees between each segment. The western segment has a length of 17 km in the E-W direction. The middle segment extends toward NE with a length of 20 km. The eastern segment stretches eastward for 13 km with a southward arc-shape geometry. We conducted the first paleoseismological trench studies on middle and eastern segments of the Ulubat Fault and identified at least 6 paleoearthquakes for the last 16 ka on both segments. The paleoseismic behavioral results which are consistent with the geometric segmentation show individual ruptures on each segment. Dated surface ruptures history show that the fault has used the same single trace in Holocene and the last events occurred in 1143 AD and 170 AD along the middle and eastern segments respectively.</p><p>Although further studies are needed to evaluate the paleoseismic recurrence interval, our results show that the Ulubat Fault takes over a considerable activity in the north of Uludag Range. The field evidence and morphometric analyses around the Uludag Range sign out that the Ulubat Fault forms the southernmost member of the NAFZ strike-slip domain. The eastern segment of the dextral Ulubat Fault has vertical component while the Bursa Fault exhibits the characteristics of the WAEP towards further east. This research was supported by the Disaster & Emergency Management Authority of Turkey (UDAP project; G-18-01).</p>


Author(s):  
Luca Gasperini ◽  
Massimiliano Stucchi ◽  
Vincenzo Cedro ◽  
Mustapha Meghraoui ◽  
Gulsen Ucarkus ◽  
...  

AbstractA new analysis of high-resolution multibeam and seismic reflection data, collected during several oceanographic expeditions starting from 1999, allowed us to compile an updated morphotectonic map of the North Anatolian Fault below the Sea of Marmara. We reconstructed kinematics and geometries of individual fault segments, active at the time scale of 10 ka, an interval which includes several earthquake cycles, taking as stratigraphic marker the base of the latest marine transgression. Given the high deformation rates relative to sediment supply, most active tectonic structures have a morphological expression at the seafloor, even in presence of composite fault geometries and/or overprinting due to mass-wasting or turbidite deposits. In the frame of the right-lateral strike-slip domain characterizing the North Anatolian fault system, three types of deformation are observed: almost pure strike-slip faults, oriented mainly E–W; NE/SW-aligned axes of transpressive structures; NW/SE-oriented trans-tensional depressions. Fault segmentation occurs at different scales, but main segments develop along three major right-lateral oversteps, which delimit main fault branches, from east to west: (i) the transtensive Cinarcik segment; (ii) the Central (East and West) segments; and (iii) the westernmost Tekirdag segment. A quantitative morphometric analysis of the shallow deformation patterns observed by seafloor morphology maps and high-resolution seismic reflection profiles along the entire basin allowed to determine nature and cumulative lengths of individual fault segments. These data were used as inputs for empirical relationships, to estimate maximum expected Moment Magnitudes, obtaining values in the range of 6.8–7.4 for the Central, and 6.9–7.1 for the Cinarcik and Tekirdag segments, respectively. We discuss these findings considering analyses of historical catalogues and available paleoseismological studies for the Sea of Marmara region to formulate reliable seismic hazard scenarios.


2014 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 222-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.M. Celâl Şengör ◽  
Céline Grall ◽  
Caner İmren ◽  
Xavier Le Pichon ◽  
Naci Görür ◽  
...  

The North Anatolian Fault is a 1200 km long strike-slip fault system connecting the East Anatolian convergent area with the Hellenic subduction zone and, as such, represents an intracontinental transform fault. It began forming some 13–11 Ma ago within a keirogen, called the North Anatolian Shear Zone, which becomes wider from east to west. Its width is maximum at the latitude of the Sea of Marmara, where it is 100 km. The Marmara Basin is unique in containing part of an active strike-slip fault system in a submarine environment in which there has been active sedimentation in a Paratethyan context where stratigraphic resolution is higher than elsewhere in the Mediterranean. It is also surrounded by a long-civilised rim where historical records reach well into the second half of the first millennium BCE (before common era). In this study, we have used 210 multichannel seismic reflexion profiles, adding up to 6210 km profile length and high-resolution bathymetry and chirp profiles reported in the literature to map all the faults that are younger than the Oligocene. Within these faults, we have distinguished those that cut the surface and those that do not. Among the ones that do not cut the surface, we have further created a timetable of fault generation based on seismic sequence recognition. The results are surprising in that faults of all orientations contain subsets that are active and others that are inactive. This suggests that as the shear zone evolves, faults of all orientations become activated and deactivated in a manner that now seems almost haphazard, but a tendency is noticed to confine the overall movement to a zone that becomes narrower with time since the inception of the shear zone, i.e., the whole keirogen, at its full width. In basins, basin margins move outward with time, whereas highs maintain their faults free of sediment cover, making their dating difficult, but small perched basins on top of them in places make relative dating possible. In addition, these basins permit comparison of geological history of the highs with those of the neighbouring basins. The two westerly deeps within the Sea of Marmara seem inherited structures from the earlier Rhodope–Pontide fragment/Sakarya continent collision, but were much accentuated by the rise of the intervening highs during the shear evolution. When it is assumed that below 10 km depth the faults that now constitute the Marmara fault family might have widths approaching 4 km, the resulting picture resembles a large version of an amphibolite-grade shear zone fabric, an inference in agreement with the scale-independent structure of shear zones. We think that the North Anatolian Fault at depth has such a fabric not only on a meso, but also on a macro scale. Detection of such broad, vertical shear zones in Precambrian terrains may be one way to get a handle on relative plate motion directions during those remote times.


1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 591-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claude Trudel ◽  
Michel Malo

The north-northeast trending Sellarsville and Rafting Ground faults are southeasterly directed Acadian (Devonian) thrusts in the Québec Appalachians. They are located at the western end of the Grand Pabos fault system, a dextral strike-slip fault system that transects Upper Ordovician to Lower Devonian sedimentary rocks in the southern Gaspé Peninsula. The structural analysis of mesoscopic brittle and brittle–ductile shear zones by graphical methods was used to determine the stress field related to these two faults. The attitude of slip lines was calculated when the slickenside striations were not observed on the movement plane. Conjugate faults, Arthaud's method, and Angelier and Mechler's method were used to determine the paleostress. The maximum principal compressive stress σ1, always subhorizontal and striking west-northwest – east-southeast, is perpendicular to the Sellarsville and Rafting Ground faults and was probably the cause of the thrusting motion along the faults. North-northeast-trending regional folds and cleavage could also be related to this same stress. Geological mapping and structural cross sections confirm the southeasterly directed thrust motions, which are well integrated in the Grand Pabos fault system. Sellarsville and Rafting Ground faults with the Restigouche fault may represent a leading contractional imbricate fan in a dextral strike-slip system. [Journal Translation]


Geology ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Cowgill ◽  
An Yin ◽  
Wang Xiao Feng ◽  
Zhang Qing

1995 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 705-715
Author(s):  
Mark Andrew Tinker ◽  
Susan L. Beck

Abstract Regional distance surface waves are used to study the source parameters for moderate-size aftershocks of the 25 April 1992 Petrolia earthquake sequence. The Cascadia subduction zone had been relatively seismically inactive until the onset of the mainshock (Ms = 7.1). This underthrusting event establishes that the southern end of the North America-Gorda plate boundary is seismogenic. It was followed by two separate and distinct large aftershocks (Ms = 6.6 for both) occurring at 07:41 and 11:41 on 26 April, as well as thousands of other small aftershocks. Many of the aftershocks following the second large aftershock had magnitudes in the range of 4.0 to 5.5. Using intermediate-period surface-wave spectra, we estimate focal mechanisms and depths for one foreshock and six of the larger aftershocks (Md = 4.0 to 5.5). These seven events can be separated into two groups based on temporal, spatial, and principal stress orientation characteristics. Within two days of the mainshock, four aftershocks (Md = 4 to 5) occurred within 4 hr of each other that were located offshore and along the Mendocino fault. These four aftershocks comprise one group. They are shallow, thrust events with northeast-trending P axes. We interpret these aftershocks to represent internal compression within the North American accretionary prism as a result of Gorda plate subduction. The other three events compose the second group. The shallow, strike-slip mechanism determined for the 8 March foreshock (Md = 5.3) may reflect the right-lateral strike-slip motion associated with the interaction between the northern terminus of the San Andreas fault system and the eastern terminus of the Mendocino fault. The 10 May aftershock (Md = 4.1), located on the coast and north of the Mendocino triple junction, has a thrust fault focal mechanism. This event is shallow and probably occurred within the accretionary wedge on an imbricate thrust. A normal fault focal mechanism is obtained for the 5 June aftershock (Md = 4.8), located offshore and just north of the Mendocino fault. This event exhibits a large component of normal motion, representing internal failure within a rebounding accretionary wedge. These two aftershocks and the foreshock have dissimilar locations in space and time, but they do share a north-northwest oriented P axis.


2010 ◽  
Vol 181 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominique Gasquet ◽  
Jean-Michel Bertrand ◽  
Jean-Louis Paquette ◽  
Jérémie Lehmann ◽  
Gueorgui Ratzov ◽  
...  

Abstract U-Pb and Th-Pb dating of monazite from hydrothermal quartz veins (“Alpine veins”) from the Lauzière massif (North Belledonne) together with Ar/Ar ages of adularias from the same veins constrain the age of the last tectono-metamorphic events that affected the External Crystalline Massifs (ECM). Ages obtained are surprisingly young. The study of the structural context of the veins combined with our chronological data, allow us to propose a tectonic scenario of the northern ECM for the 15-5 Ma period, which was poorly documented so far. The quartz veins are of two types: (i) the oldest are poorly mineralized (chlorite and epidote), flat-lying veins. The quartz fibres (= extension direction) are near vertical and seem to be associated with a subvertical dissolution schistosity superimposed upon an early Alpine deformation underlined by “mini-biotite”. They bear a sub-horizontal stretching lineation; (ii) the youngest veins are very rich in various minerals (anatase, rutile, phénacite, meneghinite, beryl, synchysite, ….). They are almost vertical. Their “en echelon” geometry as well as the horizontal attitude of their quartz fibres show a dextral strike-slip regime. Two groups of Th-Pb ages have been obtained: 11 to 10 Ma and 7 to 5 Ma. They were obtained from the most recent veins (vertical veins) sampled in different areas of the massif. The ca. 10 Ma ages are related to veins in the Lauzière granite and its metamorphic country-rocks at about 2 km from the eastern contact of the massif, while the ages of ca. 5 Ma correspond to veins occurring in mylonites along this contact. Adularias provided Ar/Ar ages at ca. 7 Ma. By contrast, a monazite from a vein of the Pelvoux massif (Plan du Lac) yielded a Th-Pb age of 17.6 Ma but in a different structural setting. Except fission track ages, there are very little ages of this range published in the recent literature on the Alps. The latter concern always gold mineralized veins (NE Mont Blanc and SW Lepontine dome). The last compressive tectonic regime dated between 15 and 12 Ma is coeval with (i) the late “Roselend thrust” event, which is recorded in the Mont Blanc by shear-zones with vertical lineation, (ii) the last movements in the basal mylonites of the Swiss Nappes, (iii) the horizontal Alpine veins from the Mont Blanc and Belledonne massifs (with vertical quartz fibres), which are similar to the early veins of the Lauzière. On the contrary, the vertical veins of the Lauzière, dated between 11 and 5 Ma, correspond to a dextral strike slip regime. This suggests that most of the strike-slip tectonics along the ECM took place during two stages (ca. 10 Ma and ca. 7-5 Ma) and not only at 18 Ma as had been proposed previously. Our ages are consistent with the late Miocene-Pliocene overlap of the Digne thrust to the South and to part of the normal movement along the Simplon fault to the North. Thus, all the external crystalline massifs were tectonically active during the late Miocene. This suggests that tectonic events in the external alpine belt may have contributed to some extent to the geodynamical causes of the Messinian crisis.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabien Caroir ◽  
Frank Chanier ◽  
Virginie Gaullier ◽  
Julien Bailleul ◽  
Agnès Maillard-Lenoir ◽  
...  

<p>The Anatolia-Aegean microplate is currently extruding toward the South and the South-West. This extrusion is classically attributed to the southward retreat of the Aegean subduction zone together with the northward displacement of the Arabian plate. The displacement of Aegean-Anatolian block relative to Eurasia is accommodated by dextral motion along the North Anatolian Fault (NAF), with current slip rates of about 20 mm/yr. The NAF is propagating westward within the North Aegean domain where it gets separated into two main branches, one of them bordering the North Aegean Trough (NAT). This particular context is responsible for dextral and normal stress regimes between the Aegean plate and the Eurasian plate. South-West of the NAT, there is no identified major faults in the continuity of the NAF major branch and the plate boundary deformation is apparently distributed within a wide domain. This area is characterised by slip rates of 20 to 25 mm/yr relative to Eurasian plate but also by clockwise rotation of about 10° since ca 4 Myr. It constitutes a major extensional area involving three large rift basins: the Corinth Gulf, the Almiros Basin and the Sperchios-North Evia Gulf. The latter develops in the axis of the western termination of the NAT, and is therefore a key area to understand the present-day dynamics and the evolution of deformation within this diffuse plate boundary area.</p><p>Our study is mainly based on new structural data from field analysis and from very high resolution seismic reflexion profiles (Sparker 50-300 Joules) acquired during the WATER survey in July-August 2017 onboard the R/V “Téthys II”, but also on existing data on recent to active tectonics (i.e. earthquakes distribution, focal mechanisms, GPS data, etc.). The results from our new marine data emphasize the structural organisation and the evolution of the deformation within the North Evia region, SW of the NAT.</p><p>The combination of our structural analysis (offshore and onshore data) with available data on active/recent deformation led us to define several structural domains within the North Evia region, at the western termination of the North Anatolian Fault. The North Evia Gulf shows four main fault zones, among them the Central Basin Fault Zone (CBFZ) which is obliquely cross-cutting the rift basin and represents the continuity of the onshore Kamena Vourla - Arkitsa Fault System (KVAFS). Other major fault zones, such as the Aedipsos Politika Fault System (APFS) and the Melouna Fault Zone (MFZ) played an important role in the rift initiation but evolved recently with a left-lateral strike-slip motion. Moreover, our seismic dataset allowed to identify several faults in the Skopelos Basin including a large NW-dipping fault which affects the bathymetry and shows an important total vertical offset (>300m). Finally, we propose an update of the deformation pattern in the North Evia region including two lineaments with dextral motion that extend southwestward the North Anatolian Fault system into the Oreoi Channel and the Skopelos Basin. Moreover, the North Evia Gulf domain is dominated by active N-S extension and sinistral reactivation of former large normal faults.</p>


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