Paleoseismological investigations on a slow-moving active fault in central Anatolia, Tecer Fault, Sivas

Tecer Fault is a N60˚-70˚E-trending, left-lateral, strike-slip fault to the south of the town of Sivas, Turkey. This fault is considered as the eastward continuation of Deliler Fault, which was classified as a probably active, left-lateral fault on the Active Fault Map of Turkey. We investigated the field characteristics and paleoseismic history of Tecer Fault in detail. After analyzing aerial photographs and satellite images, we mapped the exact fault trace on a 1/25,000 scale topographic map, between the towns of Deliilyas in southwest and Bogazdere in northeast. Tecer Fault is characterized by morphological features such as offset streams and gullies, linear depressions and scarps, and elongated hills. Four paleoseismological trenches were excavated on the northeastern extent of the fault. Two past earthquakes were identified in these trenches, and the dates of the collected charcoal samples suggested that the first of these earthquakes occurred about 8000 B.C. while the more recent event took place around 3500 B.C. Field observations and paleoseismic data indicate that Tecer Fault is an active, pure sinistral, strike-slip fault, and that there is about a 4500 years time span between the two earthquakes. It is also clear that there has not been any surface-ruptured faulting over the last 800 years. Compared with the earthquake characteristics of other strike-slip fault zones in Turkey in terms of time-slip relations, the slip rate can be estimated as about 1 mm/yr on Tecer Fault

Active fault segments along the North Anatolian Fault system in the Sea of Marmara: implication for seismic hazard

International audienceAbstract A 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

The region of the Strandja Sill (North Turkey) and the Messinian events

The two sides of the Strandja Sill show a highly discontinuous stratigraphic succession since the Late Oligocene. This area, together with the Sea of Marmara Basin, is usually proposed as the gateway for the Paratethyan freshwaters and organisms that constituted the Lago Mare facies in the Mediterranean Sea during the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC). Our investigations involving new field observations and datings, together with previous studies, suggest that the sill has possibly experienced such a connection at around 8 Ma, i.e. significantly before the crisis. The proposal of a sea-level drop of the Black Sea before 7 Ma is not supported by our data on dinoflagellate cysts. Consistency of calcareous nannofossil succession at DSDP Site 380 is reinforced, allowing to reassert that subaerial erosion impacted both the southwestern Black Sea and the central Marmara – Dardanelles area during the peak of the MSC. At that time, this region was crossed by two oppositely directed fluvial networks, further supporting the absence of a marine gateway through the Strandja Sill. It is concluded that none of the Lago Mare events recorded in the Mediterranean during the MSC were the consequence of the passage of Paratethyan waters and organisms through this area. In the Black Sea, the well-dated Messinian fluvial erosion can be followed offshore. The overlying prograding deltaic deposits attest to a fast marine reflooding after the crisis. This constitutes a comprehensive erosion - sedimentation model in an area intensively explored for hydrocarbons