Quaternary Rock Uplift Rates and Their Implications for the Western Flank of the North Anatolian Fault Restraining Bend; Inferences From Fluvial Terrace Ages

In the western flank of the North Anatolian Fault restraining bend (i.e., Central Pontides), the Filyos River incises through the uplifting Karabük Range, creating the ~1.7-km-deep Filyos River Gorge on the hanging wall of the reverse Karabük Fault. Seven fluvial strath terrace levels are preserved in this gorge. optically stimulated luminescence ages from quartz-rich sediments of five terrace levels reveal an average long-term rock uplift rate of 0.45 ± 0.02 mm yr⁻¹ with an unsteady pattern of uplift during the last 542 ± 24 kyr. Uplift rates of 1.52 ± 0.6 and 0.74 ± 0.3 mm yr⁻¹ occurred before 366 ± 19 kyr, followed by lower rates of ~0.1 and 0.31 mm yr⁻¹ through present. These later uplift rates may reflect relatively slower tectonic rates since ~366 kyr, with closer similarity to regional uplift rates of ~0.3 mm yr⁻¹ yielded from the eastern flank of the Central Pontides. The Karabük Range fluvial terraces are near the North Anatolian Fault, meaning pre- ~366 kyr uplift rates may be a glimpse of the highest Central Pontides Quaternary rock uplift rates on uplifting hanging wall blocks activated by the restraining bend. When we consider offshore seismic reflection data, the focal mechanism solution of the Bartın Earthquake, onshore structural data, and regional tectonic geomorphology, the western flank of the Central Anatolian Plateau's northern margin is propagating northward as a growing orogenic wedge with a positive flower-structure geometry.