A synthesis: Late Cenozoic stress field distribution at northeastern corner of the Eastern Mediterranean, SE Turkey

Fault kinematic analysis and inversion of focal mechanisms of shallow earthquakes reveal significant evolution of the regional stress regime in the northeastern most corner of the Eastern Mediterranean region since the Mio-Pliocene to the present time. This study was carried out in the interaction area between the Arabian/African plates and the Anatolian block. The evolution of stress regimes consists of a change from older transpression to younger transtension. Both strike-slip stress regimes having a NNW- to north west-trending sigma(Hmax) (sigma(1)) and ENE- to northeast-trending sigma(Hmin) (sigma(3)) axes induce a sinistral component of displacement on the major intra-continental Karalas-Osnianiye and Misis-Ceyhan faults elongated with the northeast-trending Misis Range between Adana and Osmaniye provinces (sub-area i) and by a NNE-trending plate boundary Amanos fault running along Amanos Range between Antakya and Kahramanmaras provinces (sub-area ii). The inversion results show that the transtensional stress regime is dominantly strike-slip to extension, with an ENE- to northeast-trendina sigma(Hmin) (sigma(3)) axis for subareas (i) and (ii), respectively. The inversions of earthquake focal mechanisms indicate that the transtensional stress regime is still active in the whole study area since probably recent Quaternary time. (C) 2003 Academie des sciences. Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.