Dasht-e Baȳaz Fault, Iran: Earthquake and Earlier Related Structures in Bed Rock

Abstract

An 18-km-long segment of bed rock of the Dasht-e Baȳaz earthquake fault was studied in detail to define the 1968 earthquake-related and earlier tectonic deformations. Ground displacements that accompanied the earthquake coincided precisely with the pre-existing east-trending fault trace. Maximum components of offset were 4 m left-lateral and 1 m south side relatively down. The bedrock displacement occurred along new tension fractures that strike on average at 50°, as well as along reactivated pre-existing structures. Earlier tectonic deformation also produced tension fractures (post-Pliocene), conjugate shears (Pliocene), and tension joints (pre-Pliocene), and all are consistent with 47° to 55° tectonic compression. The study covered three points: (1) the 40° to 45° angle measured between the major principal stress direction indicated by the earthquake fractures and the fault; (2) the apparent constancy of the stress field direction during the three early phases and the 1968 deformation; and (3) the “gap” and “anti-Riedel” structure shown by the overall fault trace, which, we suggest, are characteristic of situations of kinematic restraint and are associated with a nonuniformly propagating rupture.