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Faulting, mass-wasting and deposition in an active dextral shear zone, the Gulf of Saros and the NE Aegean Sea, NW Turkey

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Abstract

Structural, mass-wasting and sedimentation processes along an active dextral shear zone beneath the Gulf of Saros and the NE Aegean Sea were investigated on the basis of new high-resolution swath bathymetric data and multi-channel seismics. A long history of dextral shearing operating since the Pliocene culminated in the formation of a NE-SW-trending, ca. 800-m-deep basin (the so-called inner basin) in this region, which is bordered by a broad shelf along its northern and eastern sides and a narrow shelf at the southern side. The western extension of the North Anatolian Fault Zone (the Ganos Fault) cuts the eastern shelf along a narrow deformation zone, and ends sharply at the toe of the slope, where the strain is taken up by two NE-SW-oriented fault zones. These two fault zones cut the basin floor along its central axis and generate a new, Riedel-type pull-apart basin (the so-called inner depression). According to the bathymetric and seismic data, these basin boundary fault zones are very recent features. The northern boundary of the inner depression is a through-going fault comprising several NE-SW- and E-W-oriented, overlapping fault segments. The southern boundary fault zone, on the other hand, consists of spectacular en-echelon fault systems aligned in NE–SW and WNW–ESE directions. These en-echelon faults accommodate both dextral and vertical motions, thereby generating block rotations along their horizontal axis. As the basin margins retreat, the basin widens continuously by mass-wasting of the slopes of the inner basin. The mass-wasting, triggered by active tectonics, occurs by intense landsliding and channel erosion. The eroded material is transported into the deep basin, where it is deposited in a series of deep-sea fans and slumps. The high sedimentation rate is reflected in an over 1,500-m-thick basin fill which has accumulated in Pliocene–Quaternary times.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, Project no. TUBİTAK-ÇAYDAG-104Y024. We thank the officers and crew as well as the scientists and technicians onboard the TCG Çubuklu and TCG Çeşme of the Turkish Navy, Department of Navigation, Hydrography, and Oceanography. Constructive comments from Prof. Burg Flemming, Dr. Monique T. Delafontaine and two anonymous reviewers are greatly acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering, Department of Geology, Istanbul University, Avcılar, 34850, Istanbul, Turkey

    Timur Ustaömer

  2. Natural Sciences Research Center, Yıldız Technical University, Beşiktaş, 34349, Istanbul, Turkey

    Erkan Gökaşan & Tolga Görüm

  3. Faculty of Engineering, Department of Geophysics, Istanbul University, Avcılar, 34850, Istanbul, Turkey

    Hüseyin Tur & Hakan Alp

  4. Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Geodesy and Fotogrametric Engineering, Yıldız Technical University, Beşiktaş, 34349, Istanbul, Turkey

    Fatma Gül Batuk

  5. Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute, Boğaziçi University, Çengelköy, 34684, Istanbul, Turkey

    Doğan Kalafat

  6. Faculty of Engineering, Department of Geophysical Engineering, Ankara University, Tandoğan, 06100, Ankara, Turkey

    Berkan Ecevitoğlu

  7. Department of Navigation, Hydrography and Oceanography, Turkish Navy, Çubuklu, 81647, Istanbul, Turkey

    Halim Birkan

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  1. Timur Ustaömer
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Ustaömer, T., Gökaşan, E., Tur, H. et al. Faulting, mass-wasting and deposition in an active dextral shear zone, the Gulf of Saros and the NE Aegean Sea, NW Turkey. Geo-Mar Lett 28, 171–193 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-007-0099-6

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