The 1 October 1995 Dinar earthquake, SW Turkey

The Dinar earthquake (M_s= 6.1, USGS-PDE) of 1 October 1995 occurred on the NWSE-trending Dinar Fault. The earthquake is associated with a 10-km-long surface rupture with predominantly normal faulting. The mainshock was preceded by a series of foreshocks that started 6 days before the mainshock and included two M_d = 4.5 events. The mainshock source mechanism derived from the inversion of broad-band P waves revealed that two sub-events occurred on a NW-SE trending normal fault with a small strike-slip component. According to the source model estimated in this study, the first rupture started at a depth of about 8 km and reached to a depth of about 12 km propagating north-west. The total seismic moment found from the inversion of P waveforms is 2.0 times 10 ¹⁸ Nm. The seismic moment of the second sub-event was about four times larger than the first one. Field observations, GPS measurements and slip vector obtained from the inversion of broad-band P waveforms suggest that the NW-SE trending Dinar Fault is due to the internal deformation of SW Anatolia moving south-westwards.     

Geological and archaeological evidence of active faulting on the Martana Fault (Umbria–Marche Apennines,Italy) and its geodynamic implications

This paper examines the morphotectonic and structural–geological characteristics of the Quaternary Martana Fault in the Umbria–Marche Apennines fold‐and‐thrust belt. This structure is more than 30 km long and comprises two segments: a N–NNW‐trending longer segment and a 100°N‐trending segment. After developing as a normal fault in Early Pleistocene times, the N–NNW Martana Fault segment experienced a phase of dextral faulting extending from the Early to Middle Pleistocene boundary until around 0.39 Ma, the absolute age of volcanics erupted in correspondence to releasing bends. The establishment of a stress field with a NE–ENE‐trending σ₃ axis and NW–NNW σ₁ axis in Late Pleistocene to Holocene times resulted in a strong component of sinistral faulting along N–NNW‐trending fault segments and almost pure normal faulting on newly formed NW–SE faults. Fresh fault scarps, the interaction of faulting with drainage systems and displacement of alluvial fan apexes provide evidence of the ongoing activity of this fault. The active left‐lateral kinematic along N–NNW‐trending fault segments is also revealed by the 1.8 m horizontal offset of the E–W‐trending Decumanus road, at the Roman town of Carsulae. We interpret the present‐day kinematics of the Martana Fault as consistent with a model connecting surface structures to the inferred north‐northwest trending lithospheric shear zone marking the western boundary of the Adria Plate. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The identification of an active fault by a multidisciplinary study at the archaeological site of Sagalassos (SW Turkey)

The archaeological site of Sagalassos (SW Turkey) is located in a region characterized by the absence of any significant recent seismic activity, contrary to adjacent regions. However, the assessment of earthquake-related damage at the site suggests that the earthquakes that have been demonstrated to have struck this Pisidian city in ca. AD 500 and in the middle or second half of the 7th century AD are characterized by an MSK intensity of at least VIII and occurred on a fault very close to the city. Different investigation techniques (archaeoseismology, remote sensing and geomorphology, surface geology and structural data, 2D resistivity imaging and palaeoseismological trenching) have been applied at the archaeological site and its direct surroundings in search for the causative fault of these earthquakes. This multidisciplinary approach shows that each of the different approaches independently provides only partial, non-conclusive information with respect to the fault identification. Integration is imperative to give a conclusive answer in the search for the causative fault. This study has, indeed, revealed the existence of a to date unknown active normal fault system passing underneath ancient Sagalassos, i.e. the Sagalassos fault. A historical coseismic surface rupture event on this fault could be identified. This event possibly corresponds to the devastating Sagalassos earthquakes of ca. AD 500 and the middle or second half of the 7th century AD. Finally, this study demonstrates that in the particular geodynamic setting of SW Turkey archaeological sites with extensive earthquake-related damage form an important tool in any attempt to asses the seismic hazard.     

Assessing archaeological evidence for seismic catastrophies

Archaeologists frequently ascribe “destruction” layers uncovered during excavation to the effects of earthquake-induced phenomena. Undoubtedly, ancient societies that lived in active seismic zones were as plagued by seismic destruction as we are today. However, other geological phenomena can account for many observed features. This paper reviews the geologic and archaeological background for assessing the evidence for prehistoric earthquake destruction.     

Oligo-Miocene extension in the Lycian orogen: evidence from the Lycian molasse basin,SW Turkey

The Lycian molasse basin of SW Turkey is a NE-SW-oriented basin that developed on an imbricated basement, comprising the allochthonous Mesozoic rocks of the Lycian nappes and Palaeocene-Eocene supra-allochthonous sediments. The imbricated basement has resulted from a complex history related to the emplacement of different tectonic units from Late Cretaceous to Late Eocene. Following imbrication, extensional collapse of the Lycian orogen resulted in extensive emergent areas, some of which coincide with present-day mountains. These were surrounded by interconnected depressions, namely, the Kale-Tavas, Çardak-Dazk?r? and Denizli subbasins.

The Lycian molasse sequence contains a relatively complete record of the tectonic history of the Lycian orogenic collapse from which it was derived. The sequence is characterised by interdependence between tectonism and sedimentation, the latter of which includes fining-and coarsening-upward sedimentary cycles with syn-depositional intrabasinal unconformities.

The Denizli subbasin consists of thick, coarse-grained wedges of alluvial fans and fine-grained fan-delta deposits formed in a shallowmarine environment. Some areas of the fan deltas were colonised by corals, red algae and foraminifera, forming patch reefs.

The first phase of extensional collapse in the region is marked by the Lycian orogenic collapse, which may have been initiated by the beginning of the Oligocene (Rupelian), following the main Menderes metamorphism. Starting in the latest Early Miocene or in the Middle Miocene, the area of the molasse basin was subject to deformation with the Lycian nappes, and to erosion as well. At that time, the Lycian nappes, with some ophiolitic assemblages, were thrust over the molasse deposits and thus, NE-SW-trending folds were formed. The molasse deposits and thrust-related deformational structures were then unconformably covered by Upper Miocene continental deposits which belong to the neotectonic period of SW Turkey. The second phase of extensional collapse is marked by granitic intrusions and the formation of Miocene detachment-related extensional basins. This phase may have been related to the exhumation of the gneissic core of the Menderes Massif, from which fragments were derived and incorporated into the upper parts of the Denizli subbasin during the Aquitanian.     

Palaeoseismicity of the Dinar fault, SW Turkey

The NW–SE-trending Dinar fault is an active normal fault upon which the 1 October 1995 earthquake ( M  = 6.1) occurred. The 1995 earthquake resulted in a c. 10-km-long surface rupture with the south side down-thrown by 50 cm. Investigations of two trench sites perpendicular to the 1995 rupture suggest at least two prior large earthquakes in historical times. Radiocarbon dates and historical records constrain the age of events between 1500 bc and ad 53, event 2 possibly coinciding with the earthquake that damaged Dinar (the ancient city of Apamea Kibotos) in c. 80 bc and event 1 around 1500 bc. Surface displacements determined for events 1 and 2, compared to the 1995 surface faulting, indicate that M > 6.8 earthquakes were associated with each rupture. Using the total displacement in trenches, a slip rate of about 1 mm yr⁻¹ can be estimated for the Dinar fault. Observations suggest that the return period for large earthquakes in the Dinar area is about 1500–2000 years.     

Geological and archaeological chronology of a late Holocene coastal enclosure: The Sanguinet lake (SW France)

Sanguinet lake is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a wide Holocene coastal dunes system in SW France. The present day lake level is 21 m above mean sea level (msl). It formed when aeolian sand closed the mouth of the small La Gourgue river which gradually became a lagoon and then a lake. Dated sub‐lacustrine archaeological remains (human settlements, canoes, and wooden architectural structures), as well as paleoenvironmental evidence (drowned tree stumps and lagoonal deposits exposed on the beach) are used to interpret the formation and chronology of lake level rise during the past 4000 years. Around 2000–1650 B.C., the river flowed into a lagoon or an estuary which connected with the ocean west of the present Sanguinet Lake. Its level was affected by the tide, which ranged between 2 m below and 3 m above msl. The accumulation of aeolian sand before 1500–1000 B.C. began to close the connection with the sea. At this time, the elevation of the surface of the lake water was approximately 5 m above msl, but it still remained connected to the ocean. Around 1000 B.C., the lake level rose quickly by 1 to 2 m during a period of renewed mobility of the coastal aeolian sand, and continued to rise slowly until about 100 A.D. when there was a gradual closure of the lake outlet. This rise forced people who were living on the lake shore and along the rivers to move to higher land along the valley. The nearby Gallo‐Roman site of Losa was settled at the end of the 1st century B.C.; then the final blocking of the outlet occurred because of spit growth as a result of north‐south littoral drift accompanied by the deposit of aeolian sand. This led to the lake level rising rapidly. Consequently, Losa was abandoned in the 3rd century A.D. and ruins of its temple (at 17 m above msl) were submerged in the 6th century. Further oscillations of the lake level probably correspond to water table fluctuations before it became stable at around 1000 A.D. The highest lake level (23.35 m) was reached during the 18th century as a consequence of modern dune formation, and thus was artificially reduced to 21 m in 1840 by construction of an overflow channel. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Active faulting and natural hazards in Armenia, eastern Turkey and northwestern Iran

Active fault zones of Armenia, SE Turkey and NW Iran present a diverse set of interrelated natural hazards. Three regional case studies in this cross-border zone are examined to show how earthquakes interact with other hazards to increase the risk of natural disaster. In northern Armenia, a combination of several natural and man-made phenomena (earthquakes, landslides and unstable dams with toxic wastes) along the Pambak-Sevan-Sunik fault (PSSF) zone lowers from 0.4 to 0.2–0.3g the maximum permissible level (MPL) of seismic hazard that may induce disastrous destruction and loss of life in the adjacent Vanadzor depression.

In the Ararat depression, a large active fault-bounded pull-apart basin at the junction of borders of Armenia, Turkey, Iran and Azerbaijan, an earthquake in 1840 was accompanied by an eruption of Ararat Volcano, lahars, landslides, floods, soil subsidence and liquefaction. The case study demonstrates that natural hazards that are secondary with respect to earthquakes may considerably increase the damage and the casualties and increase the risk associated with the seismic impact.

The North Tabriz–Gailatu fault system poses a high seismic hazard to the border areas of NW Iran, eastern Turkey, Nakhichevan (Azerbaijan) and southern Armenia. Right-lateral strike–slip motions along the North Tabriz fault have given rise to strong earthquakes, which threaten the city of Tabriz with its population of 1.2 million.

The examples illustrate how the concentration of natural hazards in active fault zones increases the risk associated with strong earthquakes in Armenia, eastern Turkey and NW Iran. This generally occurs across the junctions of international borders. Hence, the transboundary character of active faults requires transboundary cooperation in the study and mitigation of the natural risk.     

Anatolian surface wave evaluated at GEOFON Station ISP Isparta, Turkey

We have studied seismic surface waves of 255 shallow regional earthquakes recently recorded at GEOFON station ISP (Isparta, Turkey) and have selected these 52 recordings with high signal-to-noise ratio for further analysis. An attempt was made by the simultaneous use of the Rayleigh and Love surface wave data to interpret the planar crust and uppermost mantle velocity structure beneath the Anatolian plate using a differential least-square inversion technique. The shear-wave velocities near the surface show a gradational change from approximately 2.2 to 3.6 km s^− 1 in the depth range 0–10 km. The mid-crustal depth range indicating a weakly developed low velocity zone has shear-wave velocities around 3.55 km s^− 1. The Moho discontinuity characterizing the crust–mantle velocity transition appears somewhat gradual between the depth range  25–45 km. The surface waves approaching from the northern Anatolia are estimated to travel a crustal thickness of  33 km whilst those from the southwestern Anatolia and part of east Mediterranean Sea indicate a thicker crust at  37 km. The eastern Anatolia events traveled even thicker crust at  41 km. A low sub-Moho velocity is estimated at  4.27 km s^− 1, although consistent with other similar studies in the region. The current velocities are considerably slower than indicated by the Preliminary Reference Earth Model (PREM) in almost all depth ranges.     

Geological parameters affecting the marble production in the quarries along the southern flank of the Menderes Massif, in SW Turkey

The Mugla province is one of the major marble producing regions located in the southern flank of the Menderes Massif in SW Turkey. The Menderes Massif is a regionally metamorphosed massif with an old Pan-African core and cover successions from the Permo–Carboniferous to Paleocene. There are four major metamorphic carbonate horizons in the cover successions exploited for the marble production. These horizons are located within the Permo–Carboniferous, Triassic, Upper Cretaceous and Paleocene successions along the southern flank of the Menderes Massif. Here the world wide known marbles with names such as the Mugla Black, the Milas White, Veined, Pearl, Aubergine, Lilac and Lemony, the Mugla White and the Aegean Bordeaux are found.

Detailed geological studies were carried out in selected marble quarries representing the different stratigraphic levels to determine the geological parameters affecting the marble production in the southern flank of the Menderes Massif in SW Turkey. The geological parameters such as bedding, joints, schist interlayers and mica filled joints affecting the block production from the marble beds are considered to be primary features. The presence of dolomite bands and lenses, abnormal sized calcite crystals and emery minerals which affect the slab and the production qualities and appearances are considered to be secondary geological parameters. The primary and secondary geological parameters affecting the marble productions at different stratigraphical levels in SW Turkey, are determined and the practical aspects of these findings are discussed.     

Aftershocks of the june 20, 1978, Greece earthquake: A multimode faulting sequence

A 10-station portable seismograph network was deployed in northern Greece to study aftershocks of the magnitude (m_b) 6.4 earthquake of June 20, 1978. The main shock occurred (in a graben) about 25 km northeast of the city of Thessaloniki and caused an east-west zone of surface rupturing 14 km long that splayed to 7 km wide at the west end. The hypocenters for 116 aftershocks in the magnitude range from 2.5 to 4.5 were determined. The epicenters for these events cover an area 30 km (east-west) by 18 km (north-south), and focal depths ranges from 4 to 12 km. Most of the aftershocks in the east half of the aftershock zone are north of the surface rupture and north of the graben. Those in the west half are located within the boundaries of the graben. Composite focalmechanism solutions for selected aftershocks indicate reactivation of geologically mapped normal faults in the area. Also, strike-slip and dip-slip faults that splay off the western end of the zone of surface ruptures may have been activated.The epicenters for four large (M 4.8) foreshocks and the main shock were relocated using the method of joint epicenter determination. Collectively, those five epicenters form an arcuate pattern convex southward, that is north of and 5 km distant from the surface rupturing. The 5-km separation, along with a focal depth of 8 km (average aftershock depth) or 16 km (NEIS main-shock depth), implies that the fault plane dips northward 58° or 73°, respectively. A preferred nodal-plane dip of 36° was determined by B.C. Papazachos and his colleagues in 1979 from a focal-mechanism solution for the main shock. If this dip is valid for the causal fault and that fault projects to the zone of surface rupturing, a decrease of dip with depth is required.     

Hummocky moraines in the Namaras and Susam Valleys,Central Taurids,SW Turkey

Late Quaternary glacial features have been found in the Central Taurid Mountains, in U-shaped valleys located at an altitude of more than 2000 m and surrounded by mountain ranges reaching 2850 m. No present day active glaciers exist in this area where the snowline elevation lies at about 3500 m. The Namaras Valley and its tributary Susam Valley are characterized by coarse loose material forming chaotic knob-and-kettle topography. Mounds, 1–10 m high and 10–30 m wide, are separated by 5–30 m wide, several meters deep, irregular depressions. The upper surfaces of the mounds are covered by angular to subangular limestone pebbles and blocks and internal sediments show a typical diamicton appearance with pebbles suspended in a muddy to sandy matrix. These chaotic structures are interpreted as hummocky disintegration moraines from former active glaciers. Successive cross-valley morainic ridges, up to 200 m high and several hundreds of meters long, limit the down-valley extension of these hummocks, and are interpreted as ice-marginal moraines. In the tributary Susam Valley, part of the coarse loose material forms a 200–250 m long and 90–120 m wide tongue-shaped structure with successive arcuate ridges and furrows at its down-valley reach. This structure, which is connected upward to a talus slope and perched cirque, ressembles the morphology of a periglacial rockglacier but is interpreted as the disintegration moraine controlled by small periodic retreat and readvance of the last active ice-front in this region.     

Geological setting of the Wassa gold deposit,SW Ghana

Including past production, current indicated and inferred resources, Wassa is a 5 Moz poly-deformed early-orogenic gold deposit located on the eastern flank of the Ashanti Belt, in southwest Ghana. It is hosted by metamorphosed volcanic, intrusive and sedimentary rocks of the Sefwi Group (ca. 2260–2160 Ma). Early mineralization has an Eoeburnean age (2164 ± 22 Ma, Re–Os on pyrite) and is characterized by quartz veins, by a carbonate alteration of the host rocks, and by deformed gold-bearing pyrite. Remobilization of this gold occurred during the late stages of the Eburnean Orogeny (~ 2.1 Ga) and is associated with quartz-carbonate veins with visible gold and euhedral pyrites.     

The pyrenean earthquake of february 29, 1980: An example of complex faulting

An M_b = 5.1 earthquake occurred on February, 29, 1980, in the Western Pyrenees near Arudy (France). The telemetred network of the I.P.G.P., operating in this area since 1978, allowed a good localization of this earthquake (43°4.21′N, 0°24.59′W, depth 4km). During the two years preceding this earthquake the seismic activity exhibited a gradual decrease. A foreshock of magnitude 1.6 was recorded three hours before the main shock.A temporary network set up in the epicentral area a few days after the main shock permitted a precise study of the aftershock sequence. Fifty fault-plane solutions for earthquakes ranging from magnitude 1.5-4 were obtained. A complex pattern of faulting was revealed, with both strike-slip and normal faulting. However, a regional tectonic stress tensor can be proposed from a detailed investigation of the aftershock sequence. This stress tensor is in agreement with previous results in this area.     

Paleoseismological evidence for non-characteristic behavior of surface rupture associated with the 2004 Mid-Niigata Prefecture earthquake, central Japan

The 2004 Mid-Niigata Prefecture earthquake sequence (mainshock magnitude, M_JMA 6.8), which occurred in an active fold-and-thrust belt in northern central Japan, generated a small thrust surface rupture (< 20 cm of vertical displacement) along a previously unmapped northern extension of the active Muikamachi–Bonchi–Seien fault zone, on the eastern margin of the epicentral region. To better understand past seismic behavior of the rupture, we conducted a paleoseismic trenching study across the 10-cm-high west-side-up surface rupture at the foot of a pre-existing 1.8-m-high east-facing scarp, which probably resulted from past earthquake(s). A well-defined west-dipping thrust fault zone accompanied by drag folding and displacing the upper Pliocene to lower Pleistocene strata and the unconformably overlying upper Pleistocene (?) to Holocene strata was exposed. The principal fault zone is connected directly to the 2004 surface rupture. From the deformational characteristics of the strata and radiocarbon dating, we inferred that two large paleoseismic events occurred during the past 9000 years prior to the 2004 event. These two pre-2004 events have a nearly identical fault slip (at minimum, 1.5 m), which is ≥ 15 times that of the 2004 event (∼ 10 cm). These paleoseismic data, coupled with the geological and geomorphological features, suggest that the 2004 event represented non-characteristic behavior of the fault, which can potentially generate a more destructive earthquake accompanied by meter-scale surface displacement. This study provides insight into the interpretation of past faulting events and increases our understanding of rupture behavior.