M Foroutan; H Nazari; B Meyer; M Sébrier; M Fattahi; K Le Dortz; M Ghorashi; Kh Hessami; M. R Ghassemi; M Talebian
Abstract
The Dehshir fault system (DFS) including six fault segments forms the western border of NS-striking active dextral strike-slip fault cutting the Sanandaj-Sirjan, Uromieh-Dokhtar magmatic arc, and Central Iran. This active fault system right-laterally offset Eocene volcanic rocks and Quaternary alluvial ...
Read More
The Dehshir fault system (DFS) including six fault segments forms the western border of NS-striking active dextral strike-slip fault cutting the Sanandaj-Sirjan, Uromieh-Dokhtar magmatic arc, and Central Iran. This active fault system right-laterally offset Eocene volcanic rocks and Quaternary alluvial fans. Geomorphic evidence imply the activity of the DFS in the Late Quaternary, and paleoseismic investigations revealed seismic movements along the Marvast fault segment during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene timescales. In order to unravel the seismic history of the DFS over the intermediate geologic (103 -105 yr) time scale, and based on the morphotectonics and sedimentary-stratigraphic properties, three paleoseismic sites have been selected along the 35-km-long stretch of the Marvast fault segment. The southern site (Harabarjan) shows steep fault branches of N140±10º strike with sub-horizontal striations in dextral component. Another trench has been excavated at the North Marvast site whitin the Late Pleistocene-Holocene alluvial and colluvial deposits. OSL analysis of loose quartz rich deposits yielded an age of ~72 ka for the oldest exposed sediments. Paleoseismic stduies along the Marvast fault segment provide evidence for the occurrence of several large seismic events associated with surface ruptures along the DFS. The chronology of paleoearthquakes on the Marvast segment indicates that at least 7 large (≈Mw > 7) earthquakes occurred in the last 43 ka with an average recurrence time of 3650±150 years. The most recent earthquake, event I, occurred ~2200 years ago, which associated with 2-4 m of dextral slip and >40 km surface rupture along the Marvast fault segment. These investigations are compatible with the lack of destruction in the Marvast historical (~1300 years) castle, located
M Foroutan; H. Nazari; B. Meyer; M. Sébrier; M. Fattahi; K. Le Dortz; M. Ghorashi; Kh. Hessami; M. R. Ghassemi; M. Talebian
Abstract
The evaluation of seismic potential along the Dehshir fault with 550-km length (by count of northern and southern splays) is critical considering that more than 3.5 million people live in cities and towns located at vicinity of the fault. The Dehshir fault is considered as westernmost limit ...
Read More
The evaluation of seismic potential along the Dehshir fault with 550-km length (by count of northern and southern splays) is critical considering that more than 3.5 million people live in cities and towns located at vicinity of the fault. The Dehshir fault is considered as westernmost limit of N-striking dextral strike-slip faults set that slice Central and eastern Iran. Due to the lack of large recorded earthquakes (instrumental and historical) in Central Iran, access to seismic potential of active faults by studying the earthquake catalogs seems to be impossible. No instrumental earthquake has been recorded greater than mb 4.7 around the Dehshir fault and also historical data shows no evidence for occurrence of large earthquake around the fault. No sign of destruction in Marvast historical castle (at a less than 10 km far from the Dehshir fault) built in Islamic period (~700-1250), shows any remarkable seismic activity until 750-1300 years ago. However, several evidence of geomorphologic markers such as drainages, gullies, streams and alluvial fans offsets, represent activity of the Dehshir fault in Late Quaternary. Of Geomorphic evidence at Marvast and Harabarjan sites record dextral - slip on the Dehshir fault during the Late Pleistocene-Holocene as major movement with minor dip - slip component. Rake of the fault movement has been considered for assessing to amount of horizontal and vertical slip rate on the Dehshir fault. This value in the North Marvast site has been calculated ~10 degrees and according to right bank offset on the Marvast river is ~7 degrees with horizontal and vertical displacements of 13 m and 1.5 m, respectively. Combining cumulative offset markers with OSL dating implies the Dehshir fault in Late Pleistocene-Holocene time period slips at horizontal and vertical components about 1±0.3 and 0.1 mm yr-1, respectively. We observed a minimum dextral offset along the Marvast fault segment in west of Harabarjan about 2 m that allow us assuming the related magnitude and date of last large paleoearthquake on the Dehshir fault is about Mw 7 and 2000 years ago, respectively.
F. Khorrami; K. Hessami; H.R. Nankali; F. Tavakoli
Abstract
We present the results of continuous GPS measurements to interpret present-day kinematic along and across northern Iran (i.e. the Alborz mountain range and northern part of Central Iranian Block (CIB)). In this study velocity field and geodetic strain rate of 30 CGPS stations from 2005 to 2009 were calculated ...
Read More
We present the results of continuous GPS measurements to interpret present-day kinematic along and across northern Iran (i.e. the Alborz mountain range and northern part of Central Iranian Block (CIB)). In this study velocity field and geodetic strain rate of 30 CGPS stations from 2005 to 2009 were calculated in order to indicate active deformation of the region. The obtained velocity field suggests that western and central part of the Alborz mountains accommodate the convergence between Arabia and Eurasia mainly through shortening at a rate of ~6 mm/yr and 2 mm/yr left-lateral strike slip motion while the eastern Alborz accommodates the differential motion on either side of the range by left-lateral strike slip faults at ~5 mm/yr, as well as 2 mm/yr shortening across the range. It can be deduced from the velocity vectors that main portion of the shortening (~70%) in the western and central Alborz is mainly taken up along the North Alborz and western Khazar faults. It is also evident from the site velocities that ~3 mm/yr shortening is occurring in CIB, i.e. ~1.5 mm/yr on northern side of CIB (along the Parchin-Pishva-Robatkarim faults) and ~1.5 mm/yr along the Tafresh fault. These observations strongly suggest that CIB is not a rigid block. Principal axes of geodetic strain-rate tensor showed that mainly compressional deformation occurs in western Alborz while transpressional deformation is dominant in eastern Alborz. Strain rate decreases in south and south-western parts of the belt, as approaches the CIB. We also observe copmressional deformation in northern margin of CIB. Finally, we indicate that the present-day kinematics of the Alborz mountains is consistent with geological evidence and active tectonics of the region.
H. R. Nankali; B. Vosoughi; F. Soboutie; K. Hessami; M. Talebian
Abstract
A three-dimensional lithosphere model with horizontal dimensions of 1500 km×600 km and a depth extent of 70 km for the Zagros is constructed from available geophysical data to find out strength of the outermost layers in this area. The structural boundaries of the model are based on the results ...
Read More
A three-dimensional lithosphere model with horizontal dimensions of 1500 km×600 km and a depth extent of 70 km for the Zagros is constructed from available geophysical data to find out strength of the outermost layers in this area. The structural boundaries of the model are based on the results from the deep seismic sounding profiles. First the finite element model for the temperature is solved in order to obtain initial temperature and the geotherm, after that structural viscoelastic problem is solved using the same mesh as in the thermal initial condition. Preliminary results for wet and dry rheology indicate that the depth of the BDT is about 8 km and 11 km for hot geotherm and 10.5 km to14 km for cold geotherm. The results are in good agreement with focal depth in the Zagros that most earthquakes occur in 8 to 15 km depth (Tatar et al., 2004 and Jackson et al., 2008), that the long-term strength of the continental lithosphere resided only in its upper part, which was contained wholly within the crust.
