Abstract
Multi-scale full waveform inversion of complete continental- and regional-scale seismograms reveals the crustal and upper-mantle signature of the North Anatolian Fault Zone which shapes the neotectonics of Turkey and the eastern Mediterranean. Within the crust, the fault zone is mostly bounded by several high-velocity blocks, suggesting that it developed along the edges of continental fragments with high rigidity. Below the crust, the surface expression of the eastern and central parts of the North Anatolian Fault Zone correlate with a pronounced low-velocity band that extends laterally over 600. km. Around 100. km depth, the low-velocity band merges into the shallow Anatolian asthenosphere, thereby providing a link to the Kirka-Afyon-Isparta Volcanic Field and the Central Anatolian Volcanics. We interpret the low-velocity band beneath the North Anatolian Fault Zone as the upper-mantle expression of the Tethyan sutures that formed 60-15. Ma ago as a result of Africa-Eurasian convergence. The structurally weak suture facilitated the formation of the younger (less than 10. Ma) crustal fault zone. In this sense, the North Anatolian Fault Zone is not only a crustal feature, but a narrow zone of weakness that extends into the upper mantle.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 109-117 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Earth and Planetary Science Letters |
| Volume | 373 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jul 2013 |
Funding
Andreas Fichtner was funded by The Netherlands Research Center for Integrated Solid Earth Sciences under project number ISES-MD.5 . Tuncay Taymaz thanks the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, TÜBİTAK, TÜBA and İTÜ for partial financial support. Erdinc Saygin was supported through Australian Research Council Grants. The contributions of Yann Capdeville and Paul Cupillard were supported by the ANR mémé ( ANR-10-Blanc-613 ) project. Numerous computations were done on the Huygens IBM p6 supercomputer at SARA Amsterdam. Use of Huygens was sponsored by the National Computing Facilities Foundation (N.C.F.) under the project SH-161-09 with financial support from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (N.W.O.). We would like to thank AFAD-DAD and BU-Kandilli Observatory-UDIM for providing earthquake data-set on Turkish stations. Antonio Villase nor is gratefully acknowledged for providing IberArray data. This work would not have been possible without the support of Yesim Çubuk, Seda Yolsal-Çevikbilen, Theo van Zessen, Brian Kennett, Moritz Bernauer, Giampiero Iaffaldano and Antonio Villasenor.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| ANR-10-Blanc-613 | |
| N.W.O. | |
| National Computing Facilities Foundation | SH-161-09 |
| Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung | |
| Australian Research Council | |
| Agence Nationale de la Recherche | |
| Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek | |
| Netherlands Research Centre for Integrated Solid Earth Sciences | ISES-MD.5 |
Keywords
- Continental strike-slip faults
- Full-waveform inversion
- North Anatolian Fault Zone
- Tomography