Nature and onset age of neotectonic regime in the northern core of Isparta Angle, SW Turkey

Abstract

The Isparta Angle (IA) is a reverse Λ-shaped morphotectonic structure located to the north of Antalya Gulf in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. It resulted from the northward curvature of the originally E–W-trending Tauride orogenic belt owing to the nappe emplacements and related clockwise and anti-clockwise rotations in a time period of Early Paleocene to Early Pliocene. The IA is included in the southwest Anatolian tensional neotectonic domain and characterized by a series of grabens and horsts bounded by active normal faults of dissimilar length and trend. The evolutionary history of the graben-horst system is episodic. It is evidenced by two graben fills. These are older and modern (younger) graben fills separated by an intervening angular unconformity. The modern graben fill is nearly flat-lying (non-deformed) whereas older graben fill was deformed into a series of anticlines and synclines with ENE-trending curvi-linear axes by a short-term compressive tectonic regime operated in NNW–SSE direction during Late Pliocene. The diagnostic structures taking a part in the development of grabens and shaping the northern section of the IA are the margin-boundary normal faults. They occur in numerous single and several fault zones displaying a basin ward facing step-like land shape. Most of fault segments, particularly the master faults, are active and have a capacity of creating destructive earthquakes with a magnitude (up to Mw = 7.0). This is evidenced by both the historical and instrumental period earthquakes. Both the focal mechanism solution of earthquakes and the stereographic plots of slip-plane data, measured on the active margin-boundary faults of various grabens comprising the IA, on the Schmidt lower hemisphere net obviously reveal that the IA is under the influence of the tensional neotectonic regime, not a compressive tectonic regime, i.e. the sinistral strike-slip shearing along the Pliny arc has not propagated yet onshore, and its commencement age is Early Quaternary.