Paleoseismological investigations on a slow-moving active fault in central anatolia, tecer fault, sivas

H. Serdar Akyuz*, Gulsen Ucarkus, Erhan Altunel, Bulent Dogan, Aynur Dikbas

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)847-857
Number of pages11
JournalAnnals of Geophysics
Volume55
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012

Keywords

  • Central anatolia
  • Earthquake
  • Paleoseismology
  • Slow-moving fault

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