Active tectonics of the Turkish-Iranian Plateau

Abstract

This paper examines how active faulting in the Turkey-Iran-Caucasus region accommodates the Arabia-Eurasia collision and the velocity field observed by GPS. The overall shortening across the zone is, in general, spatially separated ("partitioned") into right-lateral strike slip in the Turkish-Iranian Plateau and thrusting in the Greater Caucasus. A band of counterclockwise rotating NW-SE right-lateral strike-slip faults accommodates a NW-SE gradient in NE directed velocity (relative to Eurasia) between the Black and Caspian seas. A NNW-SSE band of previously unrecognized oblique normal faults is present on the Turkey-Iran border. We estimate the offsets on faults from geomorphological features and show that these offsets can be achieved in 5 ±2 Ma at present rates. This implies a reorganization of deformation in the collision zone at that time, after the initial collision at ∼12 Ma, probably in response to mantle-induced dynamic uplift. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.