Collaborative Research (LDEO and USC): Submarine Earthquake Geology in the Marmara Seismic Gap

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

The 1600-km-long North Anatolian transform fault across northern Turkey has been repturing from east to west in a series of large earthquakes during the past 60 years. The rupture front advanced 160 km westward in 1999 in two disastrous earthquakes. The next rupture is expected to occur within the next few decades benearth the Marmara Sea. In October 2000, the shelf and adjacent slope of the northeastern Marmara Sea were charted using multibeam bathymetry and backscatter technology. The goal was to resolve the planview geometry of seismogenic fault strands, and to identify any related features such as mass-wasting deposits, sand blows, mud volcanoes, and degassing craters.