Seismotectonics of the Zagros (Iran) from Orogen-Wide Earthquake Relocations
Final Project Report, NSF Award 1524815 Seismotectonics of the Zagros (Iran) from orogen-wide earthquake relocations Edwin Nissen1;2 & Ezgi Karas¨ozen2 1 School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada 2 Department of Geophysics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 03/15/2016{02/28/2019 Note: this final report is modifed and abridged from our recent paper: Karas¨ozen,E., Nissen, E., Bergman, E. A., and Ghods, A. (2019). Seismotectonics of the Zagros (Iran) From Orogen-Wide, Calibrated Earthquake Relocations. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JB017336. This related paper was also supported directly through this NSF award: Nissen, E., Ghods, A., Karas¨ozen,E., Elliott, J. R., Barnhart, W. D., Bergman, E. A., Hayes, G. P., Jamal-Reyhani, M., Nemati, M., Tan, F., Abdulnaby, W., Benz, H. M., Shahvar, M. P., Talebian, M., and Chen, L. (2019). The 12 November 2017 Mw 7.3 Ezgeleh-Sarpolzahab (Iran) earthquake and active tectonics of the Lurestan arc. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 124, 2124-2152. Summary We use calibrated earthquake relocations to reassess the distribution and kinematics of faulting in the Zagros range, southwestern Iran. This is amongst the most seismically-active fold-and- thrust belts globally, but knowledge of its active faulting is hampered by large errors in reported epicenters and controversy over earthquake depths. Mapped coseismic surface faulting is extremely rare, with most seismicity occurring on blind reverse faults buried beneath or within a thick, folded sedimentary cover. Therefore, the distribution of earthquakes provides vital information about the location of active faulting at depth.
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