TECTONOPHYSICS, vol.518, pp.1-16, 2012 (SCI-Expanded)
Much of the northern strand of the North Anatolia Fault system in the Marmara Sea, the Main Marmara fault, is a seismic gap, posing a high risk for Istanbul. Deep bathymetric and sedimentary basins are structurally associated with the Main Marmara fault. Basin growth including tilting of their margins is thus linked to fault slip through releasing and restraining segments of this and other branches of the North Anatolian Fault system. Whether this system has been steady state through at least the last half of the Quaternary, or whether the Main Marmara fault more recently propagated through and deactivated pull-apart basins is one of the main controversies.