Kinematics of the East Anatolian Fault Zone between Turkoglu (Kahramanmaras) and Celikhan (Adiyaman), eastern Turkey

Yılmaz H., Över S., Ozden S.

EARTH PLANETS AND SPACE, vol.58, no.11, pp.1463-1473, 2006 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 58 Issue: 11
  • Publication Date: 2006
  • Doi Number: 10.1186/bf03352645
  • Journal Name: EARTH PLANETS AND SPACE
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.1463-1473
  • Keywords: Anatolia, East Anatolian Fault, stress state, earthquake, fault-slip inversion, ACTIVE TECTONICS, FOCAL MECHANISMS, STRESS STATE, MIDDLE-EAST, PLATE, EARTHQUAKE, EVOLUTION, COLLISION, IMAGERY, MODEL
  • Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

In this study we determined the stress regime acting along the East Anatolian Fault Zone between Turkoglu (Kahramanmaras) and Celikhan (Adiyaman), from the Neocene to present-day, based on the inversion of striations measured on faults and on the focal mechanisms of earthquakes having magnitudes greater than 5.0. The inversions yield a strike-slip stress regime with a reverse component (i.e., transpression) operative in the Neocene to present with a consistent N-to NW-trending or, axis 156 +/- 11 degrees and an E- to NE-trending sigma(3) axis, sigma(7) 9 degrees sigma(3), producing left-lateral motion along the East Anatolian Fault Zone. The inversions of focal mechanisms yield a strike-slip stress deviator characterized by an approximately N-S (N1 degrees W)-trending sigma(1), and an approximately E-W (N89 degrees E)-trending sigma(3) axis. Both the kinematic analysis and structural observations indicate that the stress regime operating in the study area has had a transpressional character, giving rise to the Mio-Pliocene compressive structures (reverse faults, thrusts and folds) observed in the study area. Field observations allow estimation of a Pliocene age for the strike-slip East Anatolian Fault Zone.