The Eastern Pontides (EP), which is the under transpressional deformation zone, is an active mountain belt that has been rising rapidly since the Cenozoic era because of the Arabian-Eurasian convergence. Morphometric studies have been performed to investigate the tectonic activity of this region and better understand the characteristics of the faults geomorphologically; the faults control the mountain fronts in the drainage basin of the EP. The results show the Hypsometric Curve (HC)-Hypsometric Integral (0.37-HI-0.67), Basin-Shaped Analysis (1.2-B s-7), Valley-Floor-Width to Height-Ratio (0.4-V f-1.2) and Asymmetry Factor (35-AF-81) applied to 46 drainage basins together with 9 tectonically controlled geomorphic indices (1.2-S mf-1.5) and a Stream Length Gradient (30-S L-120) indicate that the EP is tectonically active, and when the areas are evaluated according to S mf and V f analyses, the tectonic level is relatively high. According to our conceptual model for the uplifting of the EP, with respect to field studies and morphometric analysis, (i) the EP is the active deformation zone and has a "push-up" geometry in conjunction with the North Anatolian Fault; (ii) the EP is progressively uplifting at a rate of more than 0.5 mm/yr in along with the thrust faults of the Black Sea Fault (BSF) and Borjomi-Kazbegi Fault (BKF).
Southern Türkiye faced widespread catastrophic destruction by two devastating earthquakes on the same day. As the earthquakes occurred at 04:17 (Mw=7.7, Pazarcık, Kahramanmaraş) and 12:30 (Mw=7.6, Elbistan, Kahramanmaraş) on February 6, 2023, neighboring active fault systems were broken in succession between the Hatay and Malatya Provinces in the region. The first earthquake, one of the largest earthquakes in this region during the last century, caused widespread damage to infrastructure and buildings, and produced large scale seismo-gravitational surface deformation such as landslides, lateral spreading, liquefaction and also extensional cracks. Here, we present the surface rupture geometry and coseismic displacement characteristics of the fault systems, determined with field observations immediately after the February 6, 2023 Pazarcık (Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye) earthquake (Mw=7.7). Preliminary results show that the total rupture length (L
max
) is 270±10 km on the Karasu, Pazarcık and Erkenek segments of the East Anatolia Fault Zone. Left-lateral strike-slip faulting is developed with a maximum horizontal displacement (D
max
) of 7.30 m and an average displacement (D
avg
) of 3.00 m. Although the surface rupture generally exhibits a narrow deformation zone width of 2-5 m, it expands up to 50 m in some sections of the faults. Our implications for rupture dynamics suggest that fracture development started on a secondary fault (Narlı Fault), transferred to the main fault and triggered the breaking of asperities on Pazarcık segment which exhibits a long period accumulation of stress to initiate the major rupturing.
Supplementary material:
Figures S1 – S12 with details on coseismic displacement are available at:
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6487245
A submarine area close to the Turkish and Greek border between the cities of Samos-Greece and Seferihisar-Turkey has been shaked on October 30, 2020 by a Mw= 6.9 earthquake. In this study, the finite source mechanism of the Samos earthquake was investigated using geodetic methods and the coseismic behavior of the earthquake was modeled. The observed coseismic displacements at 62 sites were inverted for the fault geometry and the slips. The mainshock did not generate an on-land surface rupture. However, the uniform slip modeling shows a finite source of 43.1 km long and 16 km wide rupture, which slips 1.42 m along a north dipping normal fault extending from the Aegean Sea floor to a depth down to ~13 km. While the uniform slip model is consistent with the seismological solutions and provides a sufficient fit to the far field coseismic offsets, a distributed slip model is necessary to account for the near field coseismic displacements.
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