The Kinematics of the East Anatolian Fault Zone, Eastern Turkey and Seismotectonic Implications

Abstract

One of most prominent and active faults in Eastern Turkey is the NE-SW oriented left-lateral strike-slip East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ) with a length of approximately 500 km. In this study, we have examined the recent seismicity of EAFZ that was obtained from the records of 34 three-dimensional broad-band earthquake stations established around the fault zone within TURDEP project since 2006. Further the seismicity and fault mechanism solutions of EAFZ, Eastern Turkey have been examined. The new fault mechanism solutions in addition to previously published 220 earthquakes, with a magnitude of M L =2.0 or more were determined by a local moment tensor solution and P-wave first motion data. It was suggested that the recent tectonic deformation of EAFZ south of Turkoglu was taken up by the left-lateral strike-slip active faults in between Amik and Adana Basins were young trans-tensional stress regime was also active.