The Manyas fault zone (southern Marmara region,NW Turkey): active tectonics and paleoseismology

The Manyas fault zone (MFZ) is a splay fault of the Yenice Gönen Fault, which is located on the southern branch of the North Anatolian Fault System. The MFZ is a 38 km long, WNW–ESE-trending and normal fault zone comprised of three en-echelon segments. On 6 October 1964, an earthquake (Ms = 6.9) occurred on the Salur segment. In this study, paleoseismic trench studies were performed along the Salur segment. Based on these paleoseismic trench studies, at least three earthquakes resulting in a surface rupture within the last 4000 years, including the 1964 earthquake have been identified and dated. The penultimate event can be correlated with the AD 1323 earthquake. There is no archaeological and/or historical record that can be associated with the oldest earthquake dated between BP 3800 ± 600 and BP 2300 ± 200 years. Additionally, the trench study performed to the north of the Salur segment demonstrates paleoliquefaction structures crossing each other. The surface deformation that occurred during the 1964 earthquake is determined primarily to be the consequence of liquefaction. According to the fault plane slip data, the MFZ is a purely normal fault demonstrating a listric geometry with a dip of 64°–74° to the NNE.     

龙首山南麓新发现的地震地表破裂带——兼论1954年山丹MS 7?地震发震构造

基于详细的遥感解译和野外调查,发现龙首山南缘断裂发育有较新的地震地表破裂遗迹,包括断层坎、地震鼓包、河道的系统位错等断层地貌标志,破裂带总长度超过20 km,沿断裂走向其垂向位移介于0.35~4 m,水平位移介于0.3~1.9 m,龙首山南缘断裂主体表现为逆冲性质,仅在西端表现为局部左旋走滑的性质。通过剖面和探槽揭示,龙首山南麓地区全新世以来发生多次断层活动,最新的一次在约3.96 ka以来。经过与区域内的强震记录比对,认为此次新发现的地震地表破裂带可能是1954年山丹M_S 7?地震所致。1954年山丹M_S 7?地震在浅表沿两条断裂同时发生了地表破裂,表现为正花状构造的变形样式。这种同震位移分配现象以往多发现于走滑型地震中,此次在逆冲型地震中发现。龙首山南缘断裂地表破裂带的发现为揭示1954年山丹地震的震源过程和破裂样式提供了新的证据和思路。      

Kinematic analysis and palaeoseismology of the Edremit Fault Zone: evidence for past earthquakes in the southern branch of the North Anatolian Fault Zone,Biga Peninsula,NW Turkey

The Edremit Fault Zone (EFZ) forms one of the southern segments of the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) at the northern margin of the Edremit Gulf (Biga Peninsula, South Marmara Region, Turkey). Stratigraphic, structural and kinematic results indicate that basinward younging of the fault zone, in terms of a rolling-hinge mechanism, has resulted in at least three discrete Miocene to Holocene deformational phases: the oldest one (Phase 1) directly related to the inactive Kazda? Detachment Fault, which was formed under N–S trending pure extension; Phase 2 is characterised by a strike-slip stress condition, probably related to the progression of the NAFZ towards the Edremit area in the Plio–Quaternary; and Phase 3 is represented by the high-angle normal faulting, which is directly interrelated with the last movement of the EFZ. Our palaeoseismic studies on the EFZ revealed the occurrence of three past surface rupture events; the first one occurred before 13178 BC, a penultimate event that may correspond to either the 160 AD or 253 AD historical earthquakes, and the youngest one can be associated with the 6 October 1944 earthquake (M_w = 6.8). These palaeoseismic data indicate that there is no systematic earthquake recurrence period on the EFZ.     

Palaeoseismology of the Havran-Balıkesir Fault Zone: evidence for past earthquakes in the strike-slip-dominated contractional deformation along the southern branches of the North Anatolian fault in northwest Turkey

The Havran-Bal?kesir Fault Zone (HBFZ) is one of the major active structures of the Southern Marmara Region, which has been shaped by the southern branch of North Anatolian fault since the Pliocene. HBFZ is a 10–12 km wide, 120 km long, right-lateral strike-slip fault zone that consists of two ENE-striking main faults, namely, the Havran-Balya and Bal?kesir faults. The 90-km-long Havran-Balya fault exhibits right-stepping en echelon geometry and is made up of (1) Havran, (2) Osmanlar, (3) Turplu and (4) Ovac?k fault segments. On the eastern part, the 70-km-long Bal?kesir fault is divided into two fault segments; (1) Gökçeyaz? and (2) Kepsut. We estimated the long-term slip rate between 3.59 and 3.78 mm/yr using river offset. The Kepsut, Gökçeyaz? and Ovac?k fault segments are capable of generating an earthquake with a moment magnitude of up to 7.2. Detailed palaeoseismological studies show that the HBFZ is responsible for some surface faulting earthquakes with an average recurrence interval of 1000–2000 years during the late Holocene. Considering the fact that there was no evidence of a surface-ruptured earthquake for 2000 years, it can be stated that there is a seismic gap on the Gökçeyaz? fault segment.     

Teleseismic finite-fault inversion of two <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript>w</Subscript> = 6.4 earthquakes along the East Anatolian Fault Zone in Turkey: the 1998 Adana and 2003 Bingöl earthquakes

The East Anatolian Fault Zone is a continental transform fault accommodating westward motion of the Anatolian fault. This study aims to investigate the source properties of two moderately large and damaging earthquakes which occurred along the transform fault in the last two decades using the teleseismic broadband P and SH body waveforms. The first earthquake, the 27 June 1998 Adana earthquake, occurred beneath the Adana basin, located close to the eastern extreme of Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. The faulting associated with the 1998 Adana earthquake is unilateral to the NE and confined to depths below 15 km with a length of 30 km along the strike (53°) and a dipping of 81° SE. The fixed-rake models fit the data less well than the variable-rake model. The main slip area centered at depth of about 27 km and to the NE of the hypocenter, covering a circular area of 10 km in diameter with a peak slip of about 60 cm. The slip model yields a seismic moment of 3.5?×?10¹⁸ N-m (M_w???6.4). The second earthquake, the 1 May 2003 Bingöl earthquake, occurred along a dextral conjugate fault of the East Anatolian Fault Zone. The preferred slip model with a seismic moment of 4.1?×?10¹⁸ N-m (M_w???6.4) suggests that the rupture was unilateral toward SE and was controlled by a failure of large asperity roughly circular in shape and centered at a depth of 5 km with peak displacement of about 55 cm. Our results suggest that the 1998 Adana earthquake did not occur on the mapped Göksun Yakap?nar Fault Zone but rather on a SE dipping unmapped fault that may be a split fault of it and buried under the thick (about 6 km) deposits of the Adana basin. For the 2003 Bingöl earthquake, the final slip model requires a rupture plane having 15° different strike than the most possible mapped fault.     

Relationship between the Pre-existing Active Kunlun Fault and Co-seismic Surface Ruptures Produced by the 2001 Mw 7．8 Central Kunlun Earthquake，China

Field investigations allow to constrain the co-seismic surface rupture zone of ～400km with a strike-slip up to 16．3 m associated with the 2001Mw 7．8 Central Kunlun earthquake that occurred along the western segment of the Kunlun fault,northern Tibet．The co-seismic rupture structures are almost duplicated on the pre-existing fault traces of the Kunlun fault．The deformational characteristics of the co-seismic surface ruptures reveal that the earthquake had a nearly pure strike-slip mechanism．Theg eologic and topographice vidence clearly shows that spatial distributions of the co-seismic surface ruptures are re-stricted by the pre-existing geological structures of the Kunlun fault．     

Historical earthquake activity of the northern part of the Dead Sea Fault Zone, southern Turkey

The northern part of the Dead Sea Fault Zone is one of the major active neotectonic structures of Turkey. The main trace of the fault zone (called Hacıpaşa fault) is mapped in detail in Turkey on the basis of morphological and geological evidence such as offset creeks, fault surfaces, shutter ridges and linear escarpments. Three trenches were opened on the investigated part of the fault zone. Trench studies provided evidence for 3 historical earthquakes and comparing trench data with historical earthquake records showed that these earthquakes occurred in 859 AD, 1408 and 1872. Field evidence, palaeoseismological studies and historical earthquake records indicate that the Hacıpaşa fault takes the significant amount of slip in the northern part of the Dead Sea Fault Zone in Turkey. On the basis of palaeoseismological evidence, it is suggested that the recurrence interval for surface faulting event is 506 ± 42 years on the Hacıpaşa fault.     

Slip distribution and source parameters of the 20 July 2017 Bodrum-Kos earthquake (Mw6.6) from GPS observations

Greek-Turkish boundary near the cities Kos and Bodrum has been shaken on July 20, 2017 by a Mw6.6 earthquake. The mainshock is located offshore and did not generate an on-land surface rupture. Analyzing pre- and post-earthquake continuous/survey-type static GPS observations, we investigated co-seismic surface displacements at 20 sites to characterize source parameters and slip-distribution of the mainshock. Fault plane solutions as well as co-seismic slip distribution have been acquired through the inversion of co-seismic GPS displacements modeling the event as elastic dislocations in a half space. Fault plane solution shows a southward dipping normal-type fault segment extending a depth down to ~12 km, which remains within the brittle upper crust. Results from the distributed slip inversion show that the mainshock activated a ~65 km fault section, which has three high slip patches, namely western, central and eastern patches, where the coseismic slips reach up to 13, 26, and 5 cm, respectively. This slip pattern indicates that the pre-earthquake coupling, which is storing the slip deficit, occurred on these three patches.     

Earthquake recurrence assessment of the active Shanchiao Fault in northern Taiwan

The Shanchiao Fault is an active normal fault located in the Taipei metropolis, northern Taiwan. Faulting activities have been observed from both the long-term geological data and the short-term GPS surface deformation along the fault. Particularly, with recent studies suggesting the potential of triggering an M_w 7.0-plus earthquake, the Shanchiao Fault is posing a direct seismic threat to the most important, densely populated Taipei metropolitan area in Taiwan. As a result, this study aims to evaluate the earthquake recurrence probability of the Shanchiao Fault, in an attempt to estimate the seismic hazard and help in decision-making for the Taiwan government. Given the capability of capturing the stochastic nature of tectonic stress accumulating, this study used the Brownian model to calculate the earthquake recurrence of the Shanchiao Fault. From the analysis, the recurrence probabilities of the Shanchiao Fault are determined at 8.3 and 17.4% for the next 50 and 100 years, respectively.     

2010年玉树地震(Ms7.1)地表破裂特征、破裂机制与破裂过程

2010年4月14日,青海省玉树地区发生Ms7.1级地震,造成大量人员伤亡和财产损失.地震发生后,我们对地震地表破裂带进行了详细的考察,并对同震位移量进行了精确的测量.根据野外考察和测量的结果,对玉树地震的地表破裂特征、同震位移量及其分布特征进行了分析,并对地震的破裂机制和破裂过程进行了探讨,取得如下认识:(1)玉树地震形成了沿鲜水河断裂带西北段(甘孜-玉树断裂)分布的东、西两条地表破裂带,西段破裂带分布在微观震中附近的隆宝湖拉分盆地中,长约19km;东段破裂带沿扎曲河南岸及巴塘河西岸山坡展布,长度约31km;上述两条破裂带之间存在约15km的地表破裂空区;(2)野外测量获得玉树地震的最大同震位移量为2.3m,位于东段地表破裂带中部郭央烟宋多附近;(3)地表破裂和野外构造地貌特征均反映了发震断层处于走滑伸展环境,断层左旋走滑过程中伴随正断作用;(4)地震波反演结果和地表破裂分布特征表明,玉树地震的破裂过程包括两次子事件,分别在地表形成了隆宝湖破裂带和扎曲河、巴塘河破裂带,隆宝湖及玉树县城西侧的山间谷地是在甘孜-玉树断裂长期活动的破裂带阶区转换拉张过程中形成的两个拉分盆地.     

Surface Rupture and Co-seismic Displacement Produced by the Ms 8.0 Wenchuan Earthquake of May 12th, 2008, Sichuan, China： Eastwards Growth of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

An earthquake of Ms 8 struck Wenchuan County,western Sichuan,China,on May 12~(th), 2008 and resulted in long surface ruptures (>300 km).The first-hand observations about the surface ruptures produced by the earthquake in the worst-hit areas of Yingxiu,Beichuan and Qingchuan, ascertained that the causative structure of the earthquake was in the central fault zones of the Longmenshan tectonic belt.Average co-seismic vertical displacements along the individual fault of the Yingxiu-Beichuan rupture zone reach 2.5-4m and the cumulative vertical displacements across the central and frontal Longmenshan fault belt is about 5-6 m.The surface rupture strength was reduced from north of Beichuan to Qingchuan County and shows 2-3 m dextral strike-slip component.The Wenchuan thrust-faulting earthquake is a manifestation of eastward growth of the Tibetan Plateau under the action of continuous convergence of the Indian and Eurasian continents.     

Numerical simulation of dynamic mechanisms of the 2008 Wenchuan Ms8.0 earthquake: implications for earthquake prediction

The sudden and unexpected Wenchuan earthquake (Ms = 8.0) occurred on the Longmen Shan Fault, causing a large number of casualties and huge property loss. Almost no definite precursors were reported prior to this event by Chinese scientists, who made a first successful prediction of the 1975 Haicheng earthquake (M = 7.3) in China. Does the unsuccessful prediction of the Wenchuan earthquake mean earthquake prediction is inherently impossible? In order to answer this question, the paper simulated inter- and co-seismic deformation, and recurrence of strong earthquakes associated with the Longmen Shan listric thrust fault by means of viscoelastic finite element method. The modeling results show that the computed interseismic strain accumulation in the lower crust beneath the Eastern Tibet is much faster than that in the other regions. In particular, the elastic strain energy density rate accumulates very rapid in and around the Longmen Shan fault in the depth above ~25 km that may explain why the great Wenchuan earthquake occurs in the region of such a slow surface deformation rate. The modeled coseismic displacements around the fault are consistent with surface rupture, aftershock distribution, and GPS measurement. Also, the model displays the slip history on the Longmen Shan fault, implying that the average earthquake recurrence interval on the Longmen Shan fault is very long, 3,300 years, which is in good agreement with the observed by paleoseismological investigations and estimates by other methods. Moreover, the model results indicate that the future earthquake could be evaluated based on numerical computation, rather than on precursors or on statistics. Numerical earthquake prediction (NEP) seems to be a promising avenue to a successful prediction, which will play an important part in natural hazard mitigation. NEP is difficult but possible, which needs well supporting.     

The Aguacaliente Fault,source of the Cartago 1910 destructive earthquake (Costa Rica)

On 4 May 1910, the most destructive earthquake in the history of Costa Rica (Ms 6.4) destroyed the city of Cartago, a major city located in the Valle Central of Costa Rica. Using both palaeo‐seismological and morphotectonic analyses, we have found evidence that points to the Aguacaliente Fault (AF) as the source of this earthquake. This structure is a N100° E trending, strike‐slip fault situated to the south of Cartago and within a wide band of deformation. We excavated two trenches near Bermejo, south of Cartago. We found evidence of three surface ruptures within the last 1000 years on this fault. The age of the most recent rupture is consistent with the Cartago 1910 earthquake. The AF is a seismogenic source capable of producing large earthquakes (Mw 6.5–6.9) with an estimated recurrence interval of about 500 years.     

Closing-up structures, alternatives to pull-apart basins; the effect of bends in the North Anatolian Fault, Turkey

Fault blocks passing bends or stepovers in a fault zone must adapt their margins to the uneven fault trace. Two cases of adaption are distinguished for extensional bends or stepovers (transtension): (1) The fault margins close up behind a single bend ('knickpoint') of a strike-slip fault and a 'closing-up structure' (new term) arises or (2) fault-block margins are extended behind a releasing bend (double bend) or stepover parallel to the displacement and a pull-apart basin originates. The dosing up described here is accomplished by acute-angled synthetic strike-slip faults that dissect the straight fault in front of a knickpoint to form a zig-zag block boundary behind it. Crustal extension is also involved in the closing-up structure, but in a different way from typical pull-apart basins.
The closing-up structure illustrated was developed behind an extensional knickpoint in the North Anatolian Fault west of Lake Abant, NW Turkey, where the process of closing up continues to this day. The kinematic model of this closing-up structure is supported by displacements and ruptures observed during the 1967 Mudurnu valley earthquake and the 1957 Abant earthquake.     

Slip rates on the Helike Fault, Gulf of Corinth, Greece: new evidence from geoarchaeology

Palaeoseismological and archaeological analysis of a trench enabled us to estimate the Holocene slip rates on the East Helike Fault, flanking the south-western Gulf of Corinth. We recognized two major fault strands within the trench: the ‘north fault’ controls a succession of three colluvial wedges and the deposition of a 2.7 m thick sedimentary sequence. The ‘south fault’ controls the deposition of a 2.9-m thick brownish-red colluvium. Based on colluvial stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating of the sediments suggests that the slip rate was c. 0.3 mm yr⁻¹ from 10 250 to c. 1400 bp , when it increased dramatically to c. 2.0 mm yr⁻¹ after a strong earthquake event near 1400 bp . The faster slip rate evidently increased the sedimentation rate.     

Trenching exposures of the surface rupture of 2008 Mw 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake,China: Implications for coseismic deformation and paleoseismology along the Central Longmen Shan thrust fault

The May 12, 2008, Mw 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake was induced by failure of two of the major faults of the Longmen Shan thrust fault zone along the eastern margin of Tibet Plateau. Our study focused on trenches across the Yingxiu–Bichuan fault, the central fault in the Longmen Shan belt that has a coseismic surface break of more than 200 km long. Trenching excavation across the 2008 earthquake rupture on three representative sites reveals the styles and amounts of the deformation and paleoseismicity along the Longmen Shan fault. Styles of coseismic deformation along the 2008 earthquake rupture at these three sites represent three models of deformation along a thrust fault. Two of the three trench exposures reveal one pre-2008 earthquake event, which is coincident with the pre-existing scarps. Based on the observation of exposed stratigraphy and structures in the trenches and the geomorphic expressions on ground surface, we interpret the 2008 earthquake as a characteristic earthquake along this fault. The interval of reoccurrence of large earthquake events on the Central Longmen Shan fault (the Yingxiu–Beichuan fault) can be inferred to be about 11,000 years according to ¹⁴C and OSL dating. The amounts of the vertical displacement and shortening across the surface rupture during the 2008 earthquake are determined to be 1.0–2.8 m and 0.15–1.32 m, respectively. The shortening rate and uplift rate are then estimated to be 0.09–0.12 mm/yr and 0.18–0.2 mm/yr, respectively. It is indicated that the deformation is absorbed mainly not by shortening, but by uplift along the rupture during the 2008 earthquake.     

玉树地震地表破裂特征及其破裂方式

北京时间2010年4月14日玉树Ms7.1级地震产生了长约50km的地表破裂带,地表破裂系统非常典型。本文通过对果庆益荣松多村附近河滩与结古镇西南河道两岸2个地表破裂点的野外观测和地表破裂的力学分析,探讨玉树地震地表破裂特征和方式。在果庆益荣松多村附近河滩地表破裂与地震陡坎呈间隔式左行右阶排列,具转换压缩性质;在结古镇西南河道北岸主地表破裂带中地表破裂非常发育,出露一处古断层面。地表破裂的野外调查与应力分析结果表明,玉树地震同震地表破裂带总体走向为125°,属于典型的左行走滑破裂带,最大左行走滑位移量1.75m,主压应力为近东西向,这一结果与美国地质调查局和中国地震局地震地球物理研究所公布的结果基本一致。     

Ground Surface Ruptures and Near‐Fault,Large‐Scale Displacements Caused by the Wenchuan Ms8.0 Earthquake Derived from Pixel Offset Tracking on Synthetic Aperture Radar Images

The 12 May 2008 Wenchuan Ms8.0 earthquake produced surface displacements along the causative fault, the Yingxiu–Beichuan Fault, which are up to several meters near the fault. Because of the large gradient, satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometric data are strongly incoherent; the usual SAR interferometry method does not allow such displacements to be measured. In the present study, we employed another approach, the technique based on pixel offset tracking, to solve this problem. The used image data of six tracks are from the Advanced Land Observing Satellite, Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (ALOS/ PALSAR) dataset of Japan. The results show that the entire surface rupture belt is 238 km long, extending almost linearly in a direction of 42° north–east. It is offset left laterally by a north–west-striking fault at Xiaoyudong, and turns at Gaochuan, where the rupture belt shifts toward the south by 5 km, largely keeping the original trend. In terms of the features of the rupture traces, the rupture belt can be divided into five sections and three types. Among them, the Beichuan–Chaping and Hongkou–Yingxiu sections are relatively complex, with large widths and variable traces along the trend. The Pingtong–Nanba and Qingping–Jingtang sections appear uniform, characterized by straight traces and small widths. West of Yingxiu, the rupture traces are not clear. North of the rupture belt, surface displacements are 2.95 m on average, mostly 2–3.5 m, with 7–9 m the maximum near Beichuan. South of the rupture belt, the average displacement is 1.75 m, dominated by 1–2 m, with 3–4 m at a few sites. In the north, the displacements in the radar line of sight are of subsidence, and in the south, they are uplifted, in accordance with a right-slip motion that moves the northern wall of the fault to the east, and the southern wall to the west, respectively. Along the Guanxian–Jiangyou Fault, there is a uplift zone in the radar line of sight, which is 66 km long, 1.5–6 km wide, and has vertical displacements of approximately 2 m, but no observable rupture traces.     

四川汶川Ms 8.0地震地表破裂构造初步调查与发震背景分析

5月16-24日对川西汶川大地震震中区的发震断裂地带进行的实地考察和初步测量,获得了宝贵的地表变形和同震位移最数据资料,证实汶川地震属于逆冲断裂型地震,主破裂沿映秀-北川断裂带发育,前山地区滑灌县-安县断裂也有地表破裂,同震位移量在3～5m.汶川地震产牛的地表破裂构造和运动性质显示明显分段特性,映秀-北川段以挤压逆冲为主,而北川以北段则伴有显著的右旋走滑分量.