The 2004 May 28 Baladeh earthquake (Mw 6.2) in the Alborz, Iran: overthrusting the South Caspian Basin margin, partitioning of oblique convergence and the seismic hazard of Tehran

We use teleseismic waveform analysis and locally recorded aftershock data to investigate the source processes of the 2004 Baladeh earthquake, which is the only substantial earthquake to have occurred in the central Alborz mountains of Iran in the modern instrumental era. The earthquake involved slip at 10–30 km depth, with a south-dipping aftershock zone also restricted to the range 10–30 km, which is unusually deep for Iran. These observations are consistent with co-seismic slip on a south-dipping thrust that projects to the surface at the sharp topographic front on the north side of the Alborz. This line is often called the Khazar Fault, and is assumed to be a south-dipping thrust which bounds the north side of the Alborz range and the south side of the South Caspian Basin, though its actual structure and significance are not well understood. The lack of shallower aftershocks may be due to the thick pile of saturated, overpressured sediments in the South Caspian basin that are being overthrust by the Alborz. A well-determined earthquake slip vector, in a direction different from the overall shortening direction across the range determined by GPS, confirms a spatial separation ('partitioning') of left-lateral strike-slip and thrust faulting in the Alborz. These strike-slip and thrust fault systems do not intersect within the seismogenic layer on the north side, though they may do so on the south. The earthquake affected the capital, Tehran, and reveals a seismic threat posed by earthquakes north of the Alborz, located on south-dipping thrusts, as well as by earthquakes on the south side of the range, closer to the city.     

Ordovician tectonic transition from passive margin into peripheral foreland in the southern Ordos: A diagnostic insight into the closure of Erlangping Ocean between the North Qinling Arc and North China Block

Achieving a reliable closure time of a back-arc ocean is an essential aspect in studies on detailed tectonic processes of an active continental margin and arc–continent collision. This is particularly the case for the northern Qinling Orogen, which records the accretion of the North Qinling Arc (NQA) onto the North China Block (NCB) after the Erlangping back-arc ocean closure. Sedimentological, petrological and geochronological signatures from the Ordovician successions in the southern Ordos reveal a tectonic transition from passive continental margin to peripheral foreland in the southern NCB at the beginning of Katian. Sedimentological and geochronological investigations reveal an abrupt shift of accelerating basin subsidence and deepening at the earliest Katian, separating ca. 300-m-thick shallow-marine carbonate shelf assemblages from overlying ca. 2000-m-thick deep-water carbonate slope and turbidite associations. Zircon age spectra of the Katian turbidites are characterized by early-Palaeozoic and Neoproterozoic age clusters, which are different from those of the Middle Ordovician quartz arenites sourced merely from the NCB basement. Instead, these age patterns match well with those of the coeval successions in the northern NQA, indicating a spatially linked abyssal deposystem. Stratigraphic architecture deciphers a typical foreland basin geometry, involving, from south to north, northward-propagating turbiditic wedge, northward-backstepping carbonate slope and progressively shoaling carbonate platform, embodying foredeep, forebulge and backbulge, respectively. These characteristics of basin-fill evolution reflect the northward migration of the flexural wave as a dynamic response to the northward expansion of the thickened NQA thrust wedge. Together with the other geological and geochronological data, our new insights indicate a southward subduction polarity of the Erlangping back-arc oceanic crust followed by its termination at ca. 450 Ma, which was earlier than that of the main Proto-Tethyan Shangdan Ocean between the NCB and South China Block. Our new data provide an updated view of the complex history of the Proto-Tethys closure during the Gondwana assembly.     

Land subsidence pattern controlled by old alpine basement faults in the Kashmar Valley, northeast Iran: results from InSAR and levelling

Fluid storage systems, such as oil, gas, magma or water reservoirs, are often controlled by the host rock structure and faulted terrain. In sedimentary basins, where no direct information about underlying structure is available, the pattern of ground deformation may allow us to assess the buried fault arrangement. We provide an example in the semi-arid area of Iran, in the Kashmar Valley, a region subject to land subsidence due to water overexploitation. Geodetically determined subsidence rates in the Kashmar Valley exceed 15–30 cm yr⁻¹. The pattern of surface deformation is strongly non-uniform and displays NE–SW elongated bowls of subsidence. The trend resembles old Cretaceous-to-Tertiary faults that evolved during early alpine tectonic deformation. Although these early alpine structures are considered tectonically inactive in the present day, the observed land subsidence pattern indicates significant structural control on the geometry of the aquifer basin and its deformation during reservoir drainage.