Version 1
: Received: 15 August 2023 / Approved: 17 August 2023 / Online: 17 August 2023 (05:33:13 CEST)
How to cite:
Eppelbaum, L.V.; Katz, Y.I.; Ben-Avraham, Z. Why Did Such Giant Stress Accumulate on the Joining of Four Tectonic Plates in Eastern Turkey? A Review. Preprints2023, 2023081252. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202308.1252.v1
Eppelbaum, L.V.; Katz, Y.I.; Ben-Avraham, Z. Why Did Such Giant Stress Accumulate on the Joining of Four Tectonic Plates in Eastern Turkey? A Review. Preprints 2023, 2023081252. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202308.1252.v1
Eppelbaum, L.V.; Katz, Y.I.; Ben-Avraham, Z. Why Did Such Giant Stress Accumulate on the Joining of Four Tectonic Plates in Eastern Turkey? A Review. Preprints2023, 2023081252. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202308.1252.v1
APA Style
Eppelbaum, L.V., Katz, Y.I., & Ben-Avraham, Z. (2023). Why Did Such Giant Stress Accumulate on the Joining of Four Tectonic Plates in Eastern Turkey? A Review. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202308.1252.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Eppelbaum, L.V., Youri I Katz and Zvi Ben-Avraham. 2023 "Why Did Such Giant Stress Accumulate on the Joining of Four Tectonic Plates in Eastern Turkey? A Review" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202308.1252.v1
Abstract
The Easternmost Mediterranean is a junction zone between the largest Earth's lithospheric segments – Eurasian and African-Arabian, and a transition area from the ocean to the continent. The latest catastrophic earthquakes in eastern Turkey require their geodynamic understanding. The two most decisive events (with magnitude (M) = 7.8 and 7.7) were observed with an interval of 9 hours on February 06, 2023, followed by a whole series of about 10,000 significative aftershocks. These tragic events led to the death of more than 60 thousand people. The above values indicate the colossal tension created in the Earth's crust. The region where these strongest earthquakes occurred is a tectonically very complex junction zone of four tectonic plates: Eurasian, Arabian, African, and Anatolian. The joint movement of these plates (consisting, in turn, of tectonic elements of different ages) occurs at an average rate of 6–15 mm per year. However, after two marked powerful shocks and a series of aftershocks, some sectors of the Anatolian plate shifted to the southwest by more than 11 meters. What happened in eastern Turkey? The interaction of numerous factors complicates the tectonic–geodynamic characteristics of the region. Let us analyze what is the most influencing component. Our recent publications (Eppelbaum et al., 2020, 2021) indicated the presence of a giant, rotating quasi-ring structure below the Easternmost Mediterranean. The GPS vector map coinciding with the gravitational trend displays the counterclockwise rotation of this structure. A review of paleomagnetic data on the projection of the discovered structure into the Earth's surface confirms its mainly counterclockwise rotation. Analysis of the magnetic field ΔZ, geoid anomalies map, and seismic tomography data commonly prove the presence of this deep anomaly. The geodynamic and structural characteristics of the region and paleobiogeographic data are consistent with the proposed physical–geological model. A widespread analysis of tectonic, petrological, and mineralogical data implies a connection between the discovered deep structure and near-surface processes. An examination of numerous publications by different authors confirms the above phenomenon’s existence. A crucial for understanding the nature of the considered seismic stress is its location near the expressed bend of the Mesozoic terrane belt, where the Arabian Plate is deeply intruded into the Alpine-Himalayan belt. Thus, the rotation of this giant deep structure may accumulate the stress effect and be one of the causative reasons for the last catastrophic geodynamic events in Eastern Turkey.
Keywords
geodynamics; Turkish February 2023 earthquakes; rotating mantle structure; GPS; gravity; magnetic; and paleomagnetic data analysis
Subject
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Geology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
