Tectonophysics

- Elsevier
Printed in The Netherlands

Publishing

SOME CHARACTERISTIC

Company,

bmsterdam

FEATURES OF THE ANATOLIAN FAULT ZONE

N.N. AMBRASEYS
Engineering
(Received

Seismology
November

Section,

Imperial

College

of Science,

London

(Great

Britain)

13, 1969)

SUMMARY

The study of the Anatolian fault zone shows that major earthquake
sequences associated with faulting have been occurring in the zone since
historical times with periods of quiescence of 150 years. The fault zone is
a broad belt of crushed rocks a few kilometres wide rather than a single
continuous rupture. Recent surface breaks within the zone consist of large
en echelon ruptures with individual uninterrupted linear features that do
not exceed
a few kilometres. The average displacement of the two sides of
the zone since 1939 is about 90 cm. There is some evidence to show that
creep is taking place in some parts of the ione, of the order of a few centimetres per year. Preliminary calculations show that the angle of residual
shear resistance mobilised on the fault at failure should be very small.
INTRODUCTION

Between 1909 and 1969, over thirty shallow earthquakes of magnitude

equal to, or greater than 6.0 occurred in Anatolia (Fig.1). Of these, at least
ten are known to have been associated with right-lateral faulting, in most
cases each new rupture overlapping or beginning where faulting had ended
in the previous earthquake, and there is growing evidence that faulting associated with other recent and earlier shocks has escaped notice.
The actual limits of the Anatolian fault zone to the east and west are
not very well defined. To the east the zone seems to terminate southeast
of Ercincan where it intersects the southwest trending conjugate fault
system that leads to the Dead Sea (Allen, 1969). To the west, the termination of the zone is not clear. Allen would place this terminal point west of
Bolu; Ketin (1969) extends the zone all the way to the Aegean Sea, north of
Edremit, while Galanopoulos (1965) goes even further, suggesting a termination of the zone in the Ionian Islands, about 600 km west of the coast of
Asia Minor.
However, if the Anatolian zone is defined as a major tectonic feature
of Quaternary transcurrent faulting of distinct seismic activity, then the
western end of the zone should not be far from Bursa, or halfway between
the terminal points chosen by Ketin and Allen. Beyond this point to the west,
features of recent active faulting abound but they lack the continuity of the
AnatoIian zone. The same features are found beyond the east terminal point
Tectonophysics,

9 (1970)

143-165

143

1944~---+

Fig.1. Sequence of faulting in Anatolia far the period 1939-1967.

Numbers refer to entries Table 1.

t---l967--d

I--

t-l94&
l939-

40*

42

I
42

-38

40 -38
40 -279
409 -27%
40 -27:
39t -26
39 -27
39.9-39.7
39.7-39.7
39.8-39.3
40.7-36.6
40.8-30.4
41.0-34.0
41.0-33.0
39.4-26.7
39.3-41.2
39.4-40.9
40.8-33.2
40.0-28.8
40.0-27.5
41-2-32.8
41.1-36.3
40.6-31.2
40.7-31.2
40.7-31.2
39.1-41.6
40.9-29.2
40.3-28.2
39.2-41.6
40.6-31.0
39.5-40.3
39.3-40.3
41.8-32.3

Epicentre
(degrees)

6
6
6l
6iI
8
6
7.3
6a
1.6
7.6
7.2
5.8
6.5
6.5
5.6
7.4
6.4
6
7.1
6.0
6i
6::
6.0
6.5
6.8
7.2
6.0
52
6:s

64

?P

6;

_.-.

1
L = length of surface
faulting:
No = relative
resultant
displacement
observed
from surface
trace;
azimuth
caiculated
by Canitez
et al.
from Baths
formula
IogE = 12.24 + 1.44(M).

4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32

llh24
OlhZ9
14h41
16h20
06h52
OOh36
08h48
23h57
lOh04
14hO3
15h52
22h20
03h22
02h35
03h12
182144
18h33
Olh27
19h06
03h58
21h03
062133
09h36
1lhOl
15h57
lFh.58
14h31
12h22
16h56
18h52
04h19
08h19
_

9
9
4
4
6
22
21
26
12
20
20
26
1
6
31
17
13
19
18
7
19
26
26
27
25
18
6
19
22
26
24
3

1
2

Feb.
Aug.
Jan.
Jan.
Jul.
Sep.
Nov.
Dec.
Nov.
Dec.
Jun.
Nov.
Feb.
Oct.
May
Aug.
Aug.
Mar.
Mar.
Sep.
Aug.
May
Way
May
Oct.
Sep.
Oct.
Aug.
Jul.
Jul.
Sep.
Sep.

1909,
1912,
1935,
1935,
1937,
1939,
1938,
1939,
1941,
1942,
1943,
1943,
1944,
1944,
1946,
1949,
1951,
1952,
1953,
1953,
1954,
1957,
1957,
1957,
1959,
1963,
1964,
1966,
1967,
1967,
1968,
1968,

No.

zone1

~Time
(G.M.T.)

Date

Fault

of the Anatolian

features

TABLE

10

78

71

horizontal
and vertical
components.
(1960) and Ritsema
(1968).
Energy

160

40

30
80

430

60

?
?
230

40

including
(1967),
Owl

Azimuth
calculated

1.1 * 1013
-

2.1 * 1013
-

4.5 * 1013
-

3.0 .1013
-

3.7
1013
2.2 .1013
-

150
360

265
190

56

5.7 * 1013
108

112

200

50

75

.1013
3.9

108
-

111

420

E/LR,
(c.g.s.)

350

(degrees)

CdC.

azim.

I_

azim.
obs.
(degrees)
--.

of fault

~_ -Strike

10

(cm)

RO

of the zone, in the region of Karliova southeast of Ercincan.

The Anatolian fault zone thus defined, lies partly in the Pontids and
partly in the Anatolids, and only at its extreme east end does it cross into
the Taurids where it frays-out into a series of rather discontinuous breaks
(Ketin, 1964). There seems to be no connection between the fault zone as a
whole and the folded structures of the Alpine period. Centres of young volcanism, Alpine folds, ancient massifs and exotics are found compressedand
sheared in the zone, which forms a wide belt rather than a single fracture.
The total length of the Anatolian fault zone and of the ruptures associated with earthquakes since 1939, is about 1,000 km. These ruptures lie in
a belt of shear weaknesses, a few kilometres wide, restrained in places,
showing characteristic
features of Quaternary and more recent faulting.
The age of the zone is not known. In places, faults disappear under
Cretaceous flysch of pre-Alpine age, while in other places the fault may
have been present in Paleozoic time. Ketin (1969) suggests a Quaternary
origin for the zone, but Pavoni (1961) places it in a much earlier period,
associating the zone with total lateral displacements of several hundred
kilometres. This figure is almost two orders of magnitude greater than
that suggested by Ketin (1969).
In what follbws, we give a brief description of some interesting and
unusual features of the Anatolian fault zone relating to historical earthquakes as well as to the fault pattern and to the nature of some recent
transient and creep movements in the zone. Table I gives a summary of the
main characteristics
of the larger shocks and of the features of the fault
breaks that are associated with these earthquakes. The sequence of these
earthquakes is shown in Fig.1 by the numbers attached to their epicentres
which correspond to the entries in Table I. The description of certainparts
of the fault and of the zone as a whole has been summarised by Ambraseys
et al. (1968), Allen (1969) and Ketin (1969).
HISTORICAL

EARTHQUAKES

It is only very recently that the Anatolian fault zone has been recognised as a unique tectonic feature, in some respects similar to the better
known San Andreas fault in California. The series of earthquakes between
1939 and 1968, most of which have been associated with faulting that systematically progressed westward for nearly 1,000 km. is indeed remarkable
and raises the question of similar seismic paroxysms in the zone prior to
1939. The answer to this question rests in the past history of the region; it
would, in fact be remarkable if such paroxysms had not occurred in the past.
Allen (1969), quite intuitively suggests that major earthquake sequences,
such as those of the period 1939-1968, should be relatively infrequent events
with periods of quiescence of several hundred years between them. Preliminary results of a detailed study of historical events in the Middle and Near
East between 10 and 1100 A.D. seem to justify this hypothesis (Ambraseys,
1970). The historical material available at the moment is coherent enough
to permit tentative conclusions to be drawn not only about the frequency of
early seismic paroxysms in the Anatolian fault zone, but also about the relative importance and significance of historical data for the deliniation of the
long-term seismic activity of Anatolia as a whole.
146

Tectonophysics,

9 (1970) 143-165

Fig.2 shows the northwest portion of the area studied. This region
has a long recorded history that goes back many centuries, and contains
a wealth of information about early earthquakes. In this figure, large dots
(1) show ancient sites which, during the period l&l000 A.D., have been
totally destroyed by earthquakes at least four times. These earthquakes
had widespread effects the descritpion of which is extant in the form of inscriptions or in manuscripts. Sinaller dots (Z), show sites that have been
destroyed less than four times but more than once. Finally small dots (3)
indicate sites that have been destroyed at least once but have suffered
damage many times. In this figure place-names are given in their early
form or style.
Without going into details, the data available for the period prior to
1100 A.D. suggests that major earthquakes occurred in Sapid successions,
within very short periods of time, preceded and followed by periods of
75-150 years of relative quiescence. Some of these paroxysmal sequences
were associated with faulting, in many respects similar to that of the period
1939-1968.
One of the most interesting sequences is that of 967-1050. Duringthat
period at least twenty earthquakes of damaging to destructive magnitude
occurred along the Anatolian fault zone. Of these, at least five shocks were
associated with faulting. The first earthquake occurred on September 967
and affected the region of Honorias between Bolu (Claudiopolis) and Gerede
(Krateia); the extent of faulting in this case was not possible to define but
ruptures extended between these two settlements. In 995 A.D. another earthquake destroyed the region along the line Solhan (Haykaberd), Capakcur
(Djapdjur), Palu (Balu), Arsomosata (near Kharput) and Keferdiz (Claudias),
causing extensive faulting, diverting rivers and changing the course of
streams between Capakcur and Palu. In May 1035 an earthquake devastated
the region of Voukellarioi (between Gerede and Cerkes). This shock was associated with a fault break at least 60 km long that extended from Gerede
(Krateia) to Hamdmli and Bayindir (of the Voukellarian Thema) on the
Cerkes river; roads leading north were disrupted and the river Cerkes was
dammed. Eight years later another earthquake destroyed the region of
Ekeghiatz (west-northwest of Erzerum). This shock was associated with
ground ruptures along a line from Erzerum (Arzan) to Enderes and Purkh
(Nikopolis), a distance of about 150 km. Seven years later, in 1050, the district northof Cankiri (Gangra) including Tosia was destroyed. The ground
in places subsided and ponds were formed and later became swamps along
a distance of about 80 km.
Other sequences of paroxysmal seismicity associated with faulting
have been identified in the 3rd, 5th and 7th centuries A.D. affecting the
regions of Amaseia, Enderes (Nikopolis) and Niksar (Neocaesarea) as well
as the region between Mudurnu (Moundoupolis) and Kassaba (Germe).
The distribution of the seismic activity shown in Fig.2 is remarkable;
almost all sites that have been affected by earthquakes fall along three
well-defined lines. This distribution is all the more significant because none
of these lines follows trade routes or centres of culture that often supply
the bulk of the information that would tend to overemphasise local seismicity.
On the north, sites affected by major earthquakes run in an east-west
direction, from Kirmasti Kassaba (Germe) on the west, to Ercincan and
Kigi (Hordjan) on the east. They define quite clearly the Anatolian fault
Tectonophysics, 9 (1970) 143-165

147

1JD

100

3110

400
1
km

N
S

E A

Fig.2. Historical earthquakes in the Middle and Near East for the
period IO-1000 AD., including instorical faulting for the period 85@-101OA.D.
1 = sites destroyed by earthquakes at least faur times, causing z,erious
damage and widespread concern; 2 = sites destroyed less~than four times
but more than once; 3 = sites deskroyed or affected ey strong earthqa&.es.

.Hatdla

#lr$hlap

l khbtrd

zone along which there have been at least four historical fault breaks in
967, 1035; 1043 and 1050 A.D. These breaks occurred almost exactly where
faulting occurred recently, in 1944, 1943, 1939 and 1943 respectively.
Another well-defined alignment of high seismicity starts near the east
end of the Anatolian zone, near Hinis (Teghtap), and runs southwest through
Maras to Antiochia and Apamea. On this alignment, which for the sake of
convenience may be called the Taurus zone, we have identified at least one
historical fault break in 995 AD. near Palu, where there is no clear evidence of more recent ruptures. Along the Taurus zone the seismic activity
follows a southwest-trending fault zone, conjugate to the Anatolian zone,
which presumably is active (Altinli, 1963; Allen, 1969). If projected further
to the south this zone aligns with the Dead Sea fault system.
The third alignment, which may be called the Asia Minor zone, is the
most interesting. It starts from the Aegean coast, just south of the west end
of the Anatolian zone, and dissects the southwest corner of Asia Minor,
reaching Finike (Myra) on the eastern Mediterranean. This zone is arcuate
and follows only scattered fault segments that show recent activity; its
overall continuity has not been documented and it is not known whether it
actually exists on the ground as a fault zone. The conjecture presented here
about the Asia Minor zone may provide a test for the validity of our interpretation of historical data.

FAULTPATTERN

The Anatolian fault zone as a whole is a 1,000 km long zone of

Quaternary ruptures. On a small scale it appears to be continuous, except
for two places near Niksar and near Ercincan, where the zone steps tothe
right with en-echelon offsets, Fig.1. Also two other segments of the zone,
one near Bursa and the other south of Tercan, either remain unfractured,
or most probably they have been subjected to faulting within a wider zone
which has escaped notice.
Fig.3 through 10 show the fault breaks associated with eight of the
larger earthquakes that occurred in the zone since 1939. These fault breaks
constitute the principal active segment of the zone. However, with the exception of the 1967 rupture and a few other segments recently studied by
Allen (1969) and shown as inserts in Fig.5 and 6, the rest of the zone is not
known in great detail (Ambraseys and Tchalenko, 1968).
Comparing Fig.1 with Fig.10, we notice that on a small scale the surface ruptures that constitute the Anatolian fault zone appear to be continuous
from Ercincan to Geyve. On larger scales, however, they are neither strictly
continuous, nor do they always follow precisely earlier breaks and mapped
faults. They rather seem to follow a path of ieast resistance within a comparatively broad zone of crushed and sheared rocks, a few hundres of metres
to a few kilometres wide, shifting laterally from one break in the zone to
another, occasionally adding new fractures outside the zone.
Recent surface ruptures associated with earthquakes in Anatolia and
in Iran mapped an a large scale by the author were found to consist of largescale en-echelon patterns in which individual uninterrupted linear features
did not exceed, at the most, a few kilometres in length. Perhaps this is only
typical of the parts of the Anatolian zone and also of other faults in Iran
Tectonophysics, 9 (1970)143-165

149

Jahirli

Fig.3. Fault trace associated with the earthquake of 26 December 1939.

The segments west of Niksar and east of Refahiye are imperfectly known.
Dotted lines show recent fault traces not associated with this event.

.Akkus

39-w

3ffoo

4OOOC

3630E

POO

.Sonusa
\

..

....

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~
...........

E,-baa

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

hikSCfr

1942 Dee 20

..,
..
..

--I
._.

40-30
+

Fig.4. Fault trace associated with the earthquake of 20 Dec. 1942.

Reasonably well documented features. Dotted line shows probable extension
of faulting December 26, 1939.

known to the author. It would seem, however, that uninterrupted and almost
linear fractures extending for hundreds of kilometres are the exception
rather than the rule, not only in Anatolia but also elsewhere.
As an example of this scale effect, consider the 1967 fault trace associated with the Mudurnu earthquake (Ambraseys et al., 1968; Ambraseys
and Zatopek, 1969). On a small scale, say 1:500,000, the map shows a continuous, rather smooth trace, which is shown in the insert of Fig.10. On a
scale 20 times larger the trace will begin to show complex, non-continuous
features. Fig.11 shows the segment in the insert of Fig.10 when mapped on
a 1:20,000 scale. We can see now that this 30 km long rupture consists of
a series of en-echelon shears connected with compressional features. On
this scale individual ruptures in very thin alluvium overlying bedrock,
hardly exceed in length a few kilometres. Similar patterns of surface ruptures have been found in other cases of extensive faulting (Ambraseys,
1963; Ambraseys and Tchalenko, 1969; Tchalenko, 1969; Tchalenko and
Ambraseys 1969).
Perhaps the alleged continuity and linearity of recent fault breaks
arises from the fact that most of the better known cases of faulting have
Tectonophysics,

9 (1970) 143-165

151

i
8

&-r?

/;,,

. ..

,...

.I

-...,.

,..

_,..

. . . . . . ..

_,

__..

. ... .

,.:

,....

,,_.....

.I..,_.,..

.. . .

_(._......

,.,

.._(,,..

:.

..

~...._.__.

_.

...

..

.,.....

,:

.(

,,.

...

. ..

_,_. ...

,......

,.._...

,:

,:

,:

,:

..

320307

(...

..

.
..,

,./
,_.."
...
,....'

._,.....

(...

. . . . .

X.,

0
--I

IO

Fig.6. Poorly known fault-break

associated
with earthquake of 1
February 1944. Fault-break
between Mengen and Eskipazar
not certain.

._..

.. . .

,:

,j/F4bmt..,..**a..;.;..L.

.._..___.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
~~~::::.....

1. ;:.

._.

,:

.._.

,..

50

Bolu

1944 Feb

Gerede

Y3000
1 ..,,

.. .

..-

100

km

40030

Fig.?. Fault trace associated

Central portion uncertain.

with earthquake of 18 March 1953.

273UE

1953 Mar 18

Gdinen-Ye&e

3lW

.Bekdemirlen

. Dutlor
'DdWl-CUfl
_10

Im

1957 Moy 26
Aban

MWN-

~ ulvo

JlWC

Fig.8. General trend of fault trace associated

May 1957; detailed features not known.

Fig.9. Ground deformations associated

1964. Tectonic origin rather doubtful.

with earthquake of 26

with earthquake of 6 October

been mapped, or published on a very small scale. As a result of this, the

details and the shear pattern of surface ruptures, many tens of kilometres
long, have been obliterated, appearing continuous and smooth. Until recently,
many geologists have considered that details of lOO-1,000 m long are unimportant in the discussion of fault breaks measuring hundreds of kilometres
in length. Yet, the depth of these breaks is usually only a few times greater
than the linear dimensions ofthe details that are omitted as unimportant.
Tectonophysics,

9 (1970) 143-165

155

I__

I _______i

$;E
I

Fig.11. Detail of segment of fault-break shown in insert Fig.10,

reduced from small-scale mapping of ruptures.

RECENT

FAULT

MOVEMENTS

The observed
sense of fault movement
associated
with recent earthquakes in the Anatolian
fault zone is consistently
right-lateral
with the north
side, in general,
downthrown.
Individual
displacements
quoted by various
authors differ, but on the average the magnitude
of these displacements
decreases
from east to west, horizontal
offsets being practically
zero in the
central part of the zone between the 36th and 34th meridians,
increasing
again west of the 34th meridian
(Fig.1). Vertical
displacements
vary rather
erratically
along the zone, but on the average they seem to decrease
from
east to west, showing mostly a throw facing north.
Right-lateral
displacements
measured
on individual
ruptures
associated
with the 1939-1968 series of earthquakes,
vary from 30 to 430 cm, with
maximum
throws of about 200 cm. Average displacements,
however, taken
along the whole length of the various fault breaks were found to be from four
to eight times smaller.
The average displacement
for the whole length ofthe
Anatolian
fault zone since 1939 was found to be just under 90 cm. Obviously,
the total horizontal
displacement
of 16.4 m given by Ketin (1957) for the
whole zone is excessive.
A 90-cm displacement
corresponds
to an average
rate of movement
of about 3 cm per year and suggests a total offset of the
two sides of the zone since Quaternary
times of a few tens of kilometres.
The question of whether the displacements
measured
on individual
ruptures
a few days after a particular
earthquake
are the displacements
that
actually
occurred
during faulting,
is difficult to answer. There is, however,
some indirect
evidence to show that what is usually measured
on a fault
break a few days after rupture as a relative
displacement
contains a considerable
component
due to creep. For instance,
in the 1967 earthquake
a
fault trace passing through a village (near Acemler)
remained
unnoticed
until a few hours after the main shock when it displaced foot-paths
and
disrupted
by 40 cm an irrigation
ditch that flooded the village. In another
locality,
during the same earthquake,
a cistern straddling
a branch of the
fault break on rock was shearedoffby
about 5 cm. Its brick walls were
repaired
immediately
and the cistern was partly filled with water only to
be found a day later empty with the repaired
walls gapping about 10 cm.
Similar
indirect
indications
suggest a gradual increase
of the fault displacements
with time after rupture and they have been found in other parts
of the Anatolian
zone as well as in Iran, but most of these cases are based
on local information
which could not always be authenticated.
It seems, therefore,that
the actual relative
displacements
that take
place on an individual
fault break during an earthquake
are much smaller
than those that can be measured
on it hours or days after rupture.
This
has been ascertained
for cases of faulting elsewhere
(Nakamura
et al.,
1967; Brown et al., 1967, for instance)
and helps to explain why most faults
give little or no indication
of melting (Ambraseys,
1969a).
However, the cumulative
displacements
across a fault zone a few tens
to a few hundreds
of metres wide, are larger than those measured
immediately after fracture
in the vicinity of a single constituent
rupture;
and these
two effects, cumulative
displacements
immediately
after rupture and time
effects on a single rupture act in an opposite sense so far as the actual displacements
of the two sides of the fault are concerned.
For instance,
high
voltage electric
lines crossing
the Mudurnu valley at an acute angle were
158

Tectonophysics,

9 (1970) 143-165

found after the 1967 earthquake

sagging more than what a l-m shortening
of the 300-m distance between pylons would account for. In other occasions,
detailed mapping of the fault zone in Anatolia as well as in Iran showed
cumulative
displacements
at least twice as large as those measured
on the
principal
rupture in the zone.

RAPID

CREEP

OR INDUCED

FAULTING

No systematic
creep measurements
are available
for the Anatolian
fault zone. There is some inconclusive
evidence,
however,
of rapid or induced movements
in the zone.
About 900 years after the 1045 AD. earthquake
at Hamamli,
an earthquake on February
1, 1944, associated
with extensive
faulting, displaced
the
Zonguldak railroad
line by about 150 cm. The railroad
tracks cross the
rupture about 150 m north of the railway station of Ismet Pasa near Hamamli.
(Fig.6, 12). Six years later, and about one year before the 1951 earthquake,
the railroad
tracks were again distorted
at the same point showing a displacement
of 30 cm; this time without the occurrence
of an earthquake.
The
tracks were offset for a third time during the earthquake
of August 13, 1951.
Thefault-break
associated
with this earthquake
is not very well known but it
extended 20 km on either side of Ismet Pasa, between KuzUren and DemircikBy.

0 10 20
_m

30 Lo 50

IN

Fig.12.
Tectonophysics,

Plan
9

of rupture

(1970)

143-165

at Ismet

PaSa.
159

Fig.13. View of displaced wall from point A in Fig.12 looking southsouthwest.

Latein thespring of 1957,
the Ministry of Highways, 62 x
the location where the railroad
1951 (Fig.12). When we visited
160

a masonry wall enclosing a repair station of

43 m in plan, was built at Ismet Pasa next to
tracks were displacedin 1944, 1950 and in
this location late in the spring of 1969, we
Tectonophysics, 9 (1970) 143-165

Fig.14. View of Maintenance Station from point B in Fig. 12.

found the wall facing east sheared off and displaced in a right-lateral sense
by 24 cm (Fig.l3), and the longer wall facing south compressed by about
5 cm (Fig.14). The points where these two walls are offset align with the
point where the railroad tracks were displaced in the past but not recently.
An examination of the zone that is in line with the break in the wall, a few
kilometres on either side of Ismet Pasa showed no apparent offsets.
This masonry enclosure obviously straddles one of the active faults
in the zone which, during the twelve years between the completion of the
wall and our visit, moved again by about 24 cm, It is not known, however,
whether these movements occurred gradually over a period of twelve years,
or whether they are directly connected with the earthquakes of 1957 and
1967 which occurred about 150 km west of Ismet Pasa.
At any rate, these movements suggest a rapid and local rate of creep
of 2 cm per year. One can debate about the accuracy of this figure but it is
very close to that deduced for the whole zone and about six times smaller
than that calculated by Brune (1968) on the basis of the accumulated seismic
moment.
It is not improbable that these creep movements at Ismet Pasa were
accelerated by the strain release at Bolu and Mudurnu after the 1957,1967
earthquakes. Rapid fault movements, not directly connected with earthquakes
are known to have occurred in the past. Such movements have been triggered
by intermediate-yield
nuclear explosions on the Yucca fault at the Nevada
Test Site and they are known to have taken place on near-by and more distant
geological faults a few.minutes to many hours after the initial fracturing
related to the explosion (Hoy, 1963; Barosh 1968). Earthquakes have also
Tectonophysics,

9 (1970) 143-165

161

induced rapid movements

causative
rupture (Allen

on faults many
et al., 1968).

tens

of kilometres

away from the

DISCUSSION

From the foregoing

it appears that one of the most useful tools in
earthquake
prediction
is the study of early earthquakes.
On the basis of the
histori&
data alone, both the Anatolian
and the Taurus zones could easily
have been recognised
as seismically
active
associated
with faulting.
The available
historical
data shows the existence
of a third active zone in
AsiaMinor
in which the recent earthquake
of March 29, 1969, destroyed
Alasehir
(Philadelphia).
It is of interest
to note that, if the trends of the
Taurus and the Asia Minor zones are projected
until they meet the Anatolian
zone in Fig.2, they would restrict
its length between the Aegean coast of
Asia Minor on the west, and the Solhan (Haykaberd)
region on the east. This
is almost exactly the length of the Anatolian
zone proposed by various geologists. But whether these three zones are the outlines of a large tectonic plate
as defined by McKenzie and Parker
(1967) is still uncertain.
It is very likely that the Anatolian
fault zone extends into the crust, as
a wide shear zone, to depths comparable
with its width at the surface.
On
this hypothesis,
large-scale
en-echelon
surface breaks should reflect the
slip pattern at depth, and it is probable
that the strike of faulting obtained
from fault plane solutions,
based on first motions from short period records,
should fit better the trend of the primary
en-echelon
rupture rather than
the overall direction
of faulting: The difference
in azimuth between these
two trends is usually 10 to ISo, and theory predicts
that for comparatively
linear right-lateral
ruptures,
the calculated
azimuth should be smaller
than
the observed
(Tchalenko,
1967). As a matter of fact this seems to be true
for the most linear fault breaks in the zone (Table I), which shows that the
calculated
azimuth is consistently
smaller
than the observed.
Conclusions
on tectonic mechanisms
in the Anatolian
fault zone based on short period
solutions
should therefore
be drawn with some caution.
Recent work has shown that the shear strength
mobilised
on a fault
during rupture is very small, of the order of 0.1 kbar rather than of a few
kilobars
and that the strength
drop is even smaller
(Byerlee,
1968;
of the
Ambraseys,
1969a, Scholtz et al., 1969). There has been muchdiscussion
interpretation
of these results,
especially
in relation
to the San Andreas
fault in California,
and although there are many questionable
assumptions
involved in these calculations
it appears
that the residual
shear strength on
pre-sheared
faults is indeed very small, and this can be shown to be the
case with the Anatolian
fault zone. As a first approximation,
the residual
frictional
resistance
on a fault break may be assessed
as follows. If L is
the total length of the surface rupture and h is the depth to which relative
movements
occur, then the work done in shear over a relative
displacement
R, of the two sides of the fault, will be of the order of& (+RoLhTo),
where
R, is the relative
displacement
at the surface.
This displacement
is assumed
to decrease
linearly,
beaming
zero at depth h where the residual
shear
in
strength
becomes maximum
and equal to T o. Since we are interested
residual
strengths,
the value of T near the surface will bevanishingly
small.
The work done in shear on the fault will be some fraction of the total energy
162

Tectonophysics,

9 (1970) 143-165

released by the earthquake, and it may be taken to be equal to (qE) where E

is the energy radiated and q is the deficiency of the shock. Thus, the shear
strength mobilised during slipping at depth h will be of the order of
@@/R&L
).
Therefore, the shear strength mobilised will depend on q and also
on the focal depth h. If we take the normal pressure on the fault to be equal
to the effective overburden pressure, the angle of shearing resistance
mobilised during slipping will be given as a first approximation by:
cp= arctan [ (6qE)/(LR,h2

y )]

where y is the average bulk density of the material.

What is interesting here is that for the eight cases oi faulting in the
Anatolian zone, the value of the quantity (E/L&, ) in eq.1 is almost constant,
ranging between 2.1. 1Ol3 c.g.s. and 5.7 * 1Ol3 c.g.s. (Table I).
There is no doubt that for very shallow faults it would be impossible
to neglect in eq.1 non-linear variations of strength with depth and non-hydrostatic pressures on the fault plane. Further, abhormal pore water pressures may not be negligible, and would themselves produce a sharp drop in
the values of the mobilised shear strength on the fault plane but not on the
mobilised angle of frictional resistance. It is likely, however, that the simple
estimate given by eq.1 is at any rate of the right order of magnitude for ruptures
extending more than about 10 km into the crust. If we assume a deficiency of say q = 10 and calculate E from Baths magnitude-energy relation,
we find that on the average, a fracture 15 km deep will mobilise an angle
of shearing resistance during slipping of only 22. For fractures extending
to 20 km this angle will drop to 12O, decreasing rapidly for deeper faults.
More exact calculations for the mobilised strength on existing faults during
slipping will require more information on the effective strength of rocks
at large displacements and on the actual mechanism and movements during
faulting. There is no doubt that if recent faulting is incapable of causing
melting on a shallow fault (Ambraseys, 1969a) it would be impossible to
consider very high angles of shearing resistance.
The fault movements observed at Ismet Pasa, as well as elsewhere,
suggest that within a fault zone, different faults or segments of faults, may
show diiferent degrees of stability. Faults along which movements occur as
the result of near-by or more distant earthquakes or nuclear explosion$,
should be incapable of inducing the accumulation of large amounts of patential
energy, and they should be sensitive to small stress changes. However,
given sufficient time for a sensitive fault to develop kinematic restraints,
its stability may increase to the extent of becoming insensitive and a potential source of a future earthquake. Thus, faulting may equally be the effect
or the cause of a shallow earthquake.

ACKNOWLEDCEMENTS
I wish ~0 express my thanks to Dr. J. Tchalenko for offering
helpful suggestions and for commenting on the paper, and to many
Turkish geologists and engineers who helped in the field work. This
research is supported partly by UNESCO Paris, and partly by the
Tectonophysics, 9 (1970) 143-165

163

Natural
Environment
Research
Council in London.
I take this
opportunity to thank Mr. A. Aytun of the Ministry of Housing for his most
useful advice and help during my site visits.

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