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Offshore/onshore correlation of the North-Anatolian fault deformations in the Western Sea of Marmara

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Abstract

Newly collected high-resolution seismic reflection and magnetic data collected offshore of the Ganos Fault (NW Turkey) in the western Sea of Marmara, along the submerged portion of the North-Anatolian Fault, highlight the presence of a complex fault pattern. Based on these data, we propose a new tectonic model for this key region, connecting the onshore fault pattern to the transtensional basins of the deepest Sea of Marmara. According to this new model, three main faults control the deformation pattern of this region, fault SF1, a tectonic element that shapes the Tekirdağ Basin, and fault SF2, which although not affecting the sea floor, is structurally related to SF1. Another fault we called SF3, connects the offshore to the Ganos fault onshore creating a transtensional pattern nearby the shelf. All such kinematic indicators witness an incipient activity, and a seismogenic potential that should be determined by a detailed mapping of both the surficial expression of fault at the seafloor, and the deformation pattern observed in the post-glacial sedimentary sequence. The active fault pattern detected nearby the coastal areas and their structural relationships with the Tekirdağ basin show that it could be interpreted as a negative flower structure, which accommodates strain partitioning. This observation is crucial to seismic hazard assessments in this region that has been the site of destructive earthquakes in the recent and remote past.

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Fig. 1

modified from Yaltırak 2002; Vardar et al. 2014; Vardar 2019), b Locations of the seismic and magnetic profiles collected for this study; superimposed on the multi-beam bathymetry data from Grall et al. (2018)

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey-TUBITAK (Project 118Y079). We gratefully acknowledge A.C. Yalçıner who shed us light in every conversation we made. We thank to Luca Gasperini and anonymous reviewer for their comments and suggestions. The Kingdom Suite® seismic package was kindly made available by IHS Kingdom Educational Grant Program. Some CHIRP profiles were processed by using ECHOS seismic data processing software.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Marine Sciences and Management, İstanbul University, İstanbul, Turkey

    Denizhan Vardar, Sinan Demirel & Bedri Alpar

  2. Engineering Faculty, Geophysical Engineering Department, İstanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, İstanbul, Turkey

    Hakan Alp & Hande Aykurt Vardar

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  1. Denizhan Vardar
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Vardar, D., Alp, H., Demirel, S. et al. Offshore/onshore correlation of the North-Anatolian fault deformations in the Western Sea of Marmara. Nat Hazards 107, 1905–1923 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-021-04664-2

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