Active tectonics of the Black Sea with GPS

Abstract

The Black Sea occurs within the Anatolian sector of the Alpine-Himalayan orogenic system. In this region northward moving African and Arabian plates collide with Eurasian plate. From this collision the Anatolian block moves westward with a rotation pole located approximately north of Sinai peninsula. Tectonic styles and rates in the circum Black Sea and along the Crimea have been poorly known. A GPS project was initiated in 1995 with the collaboration between Istanbul Technical University, MIT and Joint Institute of Physics of the Earth (Moscow). To carry out the project, two GPS campaigns were performed. Data have been analysed by the well-known GPS processing program, GAMIT which is a comprehensive GPS analysis package, and GLOBK, a Kalman filter. This paper presents the important outputs from the two GPS campaigns and gives suggestions for the future investigations in the region. The important outcome of the project is that the N-S motions along mostly in the Eastern margin of the Black Sea are in a few mm/year, such as SINO, a southern coast site, with a rate of 1.4 ± 1.7 mm/year in NW direction, and GELE, a northern coast site, with a rate of 2.2 ± 2.8 mm/year in SE direction, while the velocities in the Anatolian region are approximately 10-20 ± 3-5 mm/year.

Geological and Geomorphological Factors and Marine Conditions of the Azov‐Black Sea Basin and Coastal Characteristics as They Determine Prospecting for Seabed Prehistoric Sites on the Continental Shelf

“…From this collision, the Anatolian block is moving westward with a rotation pole located approximately to the north of the Sinai Peninsula (Tari et al 2000). The northward movement of the Arabian plate and westward escape of the Anatolian block along the North and East Anatolian faults have been accompanied by several episodes of extension and shortening since the Permian (Yilmaz 1997;Robertson et al 2004) until now, as can be seen in seismic reflection data (McKenzie 1972;McClusky et al 2000).…”

“…The compressional tectonic regime is still active in the eastern Black Sea region as can be seen from geological and geophysical evidence, including offshore seismic reflection profiles (Finetti et al 1988), offshore morphology (Meisner et al 1995), onshore geology and morphology (Okay & Sahinturk 1997 and references therein), and recent seismic activity (Neprochnov & Ross 1978;Barka & Reilinger 1997). The north-south motions of several mm/year are seen mostly in the eastern Black Sea, while in the Anatolian region, they are approximately 10 mm/year to 20 mm/year (Tari et al 2000).…”

Coastal Uplift along the Eastern Black Sea Coast: New Marine Terrace Data from Eastern Pontides, Trabzon (Turkey) and a Review

“…As a consequence, the Anatolian block moves westward. Within this tectonic framework, the present-day tectonics of the Black Sea has been a puzzle (Tari et al, 2000). The Black Sea basin is divided into two parts, the Western and Eastern basins, separated by the mid-Black Sea ridge ( Figure 1).…”

“…Geodynamical context of the Eastern Black Sea. Map sketch redrawn from Smith et al, 1994;Reilinger et al, 1997;and Tari et al, 2000. the evolution of the sedimentary rocks in the southern zone and represented by dense volcanic activity in the northern zone.…”

Orientations of palaeotectonic features as a key to understanding the neotectonic block rotation of the Kocaeli peninsula, NW Turkey

“…Gürbüz bounded between the sinistral AKFZ in the east and the BFZ in the west, the dextral NAFZ in the south and the NBF in the north (Figure 9(A))-appropriate to the theoretical model of Dibble (1977) (Figure 8(A)). While the Kocaeli peninsula (Northeastern Marmara peneplain) is controlled by this rotational process, the Southern Black Sea highland was exposed to a compressional regime convenient to the palaeotectonic compression axis during the neotectonic period (Bellier et al 1997;Tarı et al 2000) (Figure 9(B)). This is related to the northern movement of the Arabian plate, with movement of about 25 mm/yr ).…”