Güneydoğu Anadolu Bölgesi ve Yakın Yöresinin Depremselliği

OpenAlex Türkçe

The seismicity of the South East Anatolian Region and its vicinity is the main subject of this paper. The Tethys ocean, which is considered as the ancestor of the Mediterrannean sea, started to be closed by the end of the Mesozoic time (Lower-Middle Maastrichtian) due to the movement of the Arabian and the Eurasian plates in North-South direction, and consequently, the Arabian and the Eurasian plates were collided along Bitlis-Zagros Suture Zone or South East Anatolian Overthrust Zone. From those time until Pliocene age, the compression in the North-South direction were confronted with faults, overthrusts from North, and folds. But, by the Late Pliocene, the north-south compression could not be compensated with those faults and folds, and strike-slip faults started to become dominant. At the same time, the North Anatolian and East Anatolian fault zones were developed and Anatolian Block started to move westward along those zones. During that movement, the East Anatolian Fault Zone developed in a left lateral strike-slip character. As the result of the movements along Bitlis-Zagros Suture Zone, the East Anatolian Fault Zone, and the adjoining faults like Lice Fault Zone and Bozova Fault, hundreds of big earthquakes in different magnitudes experienced to the South East Anatolian Region and its vicinity. Researches done on Hazar Lake young sediments showed that the region has been experienced by five big earthquakes throughout the recent times. Many active landslides along fault zones shows the recent activity of those faults. When recent seismic activities are plotted, it can be seen that the most of the epicenters at different magnitudes are matched with these active fault zones. Thus, it can be said that the faults of this region are active and they have a potential of producing earthquakes in different magnitudes continuously.