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Geomorphometric evidence of an active pop-up structure along the sabzpushan fault zone, Zagros mountains, SW Iran

  • Special Column on Tectonics of Turkey and Iran and Comparison with Other Tethyan Domains
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Abstract

Evaluation of active tectonism by means of geomorphic indices has provided crucial semi-quantitative data for evaluating seismic hazards in a fault zone in a semiarid area of the Zagros Mountains of Iran where tectonic rates are low-to-moderate and there are few Quaternary dates. Quaternary activity along the seismically active but poorly understood Sabzpushan fault zone (SFZ) has been investigated. The SFZ consists of two dextral strike-slip faults, the Zafarabad and Kafari faults. Geomorphic indices including mountain front sinuosity, valley asymmetry factor, hypsometric integral, valley floor width to valley height ratio and stream length gradient index were used to assess the effects of active reverse faults which control the topographic relief and Quaternary activity. Geomorphometric and field evidence reveal that the Quaternary activity and topographic relief of the study area are controlled by two reverse faults, the North and South Sabzpushan reverse faults, which have formed a pop-up structure in the contractional step-over area between the Zafarabad and Kafari dextral strikeslip faults as a consequence of oblique convergence between the Afro-Arabian and Iranian plates accommodated by the North and South Sabzpushan thrust faults.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, College of Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, 71454, Iran

    Ali Faghih & Iman Nezamzadeh

  2. State Key Laboratory for Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, Three Gorges Research Center for Geohazards, Ministry of Education, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Timothy M. Kusky

  3. Center for Global Tectonics, School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Timothy M. Kusky

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  1. Ali Faghih
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Correspondence to Iman Nezamzadeh.

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Faghih, A., Nezamzadeh, I. & Kusky, T.M. Geomorphometric evidence of an active pop-up structure along the sabzpushan fault zone, Zagros mountains, SW Iran. J. Earth Sci. 27, 945–954 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-016-0663-y

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