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Tectonic and crustal structure of the Eastern Pontides using Bouguer gravity data

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Abstract

To study the crustal structure of the Eastern Pontides, gravity data obtained from the World Gravity Map (WGM2012) were analyzed using total horizontal derivative (THD), Parker–Oldenburg (PO) inversion, and normalized full gradient (NFG) techniques. The THD method was applied to the data after bandpass filtering of the Bouguer gravity data in order to image the discontinuities in the basement levels. The maximum amplitude values of the THD were used to reveal the discontinuities caused by the density difference in the Eastern Pontides and its vicinity. In addition, the basement upper surface topography of the region was calculated and mapped with the inverse solution, and the presence of uplift areas in the Eastern Pontides was determined. As a result of the inverse solution, it was found that the depth of the basement in the Eastern Pontides belt reached approximately 5.5 km. An average basement upper surface depth of 3 km was calculated for the area under the Black Sea coastline. Finally, depth values were calculated using the NFG method under the determined profiles, and the depth values found by the inverse solution were tested. For the basement upper surface topography, the results obtained from the two depth calculations were found to be compatible, within error limits of ±0.2 km.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Yener Eyüboğlu and Prof. Dr. Hakan Karslı from Karadeniz Technical University and Prof. Dr. Bülent Oruç from Kocaeli University for their invaluable contribution during the creation of the article.

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  1. Department of Geophysical Engineering, Karadeniz Technical University, 61080, Trabzon, Turkey

    Ali Elmas

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Communicated by Prof. Ivana Vasiljevic (Associate Editor), Prof. Michal Malinowski (Co-Editor-in-Chief).

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Elmas, A. Tectonic and crustal structure of the Eastern Pontides using Bouguer gravity data. Acta Geophys. 69, 1637–1650 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11600-021-00640-3

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