Türkiye Jeoloji Bülteni

The Seismic Geomorphology of the Sığacık Gulf (İzmir) Earthquakes of October 17 to 20, 2005 and Their Relationships with the Stress Field of Their Western Anatolian Region.

Abstract: İzmir city and its surroundings are located in the strike-slip dominated zone of weakness known as theİzmir-Balıkesir Transfer Zone. The latest activity of the zone was evidenced by the October-2005 Sığacıkearthquakes. In this study, we merge the seismic geomorphological features of the İzmir earthquakeswith the active faults and stress field of the region.Three main shocks (17 October 2005 at 05:45, Mw= 5.4; 17 October at 09:46, Mw =5.8 and 20October at 21:40, Mw =5.9) occurred in the Gulf of Sığacık synsedimentary structures to form. Thesestructures have been mapped and evaluated with respect to their seismo-geomorphological features.The syn-sedimentary deformational structures occur around Demircili village and Yumlu Farm tothe south of the Urla Basin. These structures developed in recent sediments which comprise beachgravels and sands that interfinger with the river deposits. The seismites are composed of NE- and E-Wtrending fractures and sand volcanoes due to liquefaction. NE-trending cracks are from tens ofcentimetres up to several metres long and display an en-echelon pattern that locally forms ananastomosing geometry. They trend N40-70oE in accordance with main fault segments. E-W-trendingcracks are oriented parallel to the coastline of the Sığacık Bay and have a dip-slip displacement up to amaximum of 8 cm. At Yumlu Farm, the shaking created a linear fissure that extends NNE in direction.To the north of the Urla Basin, we also observed a small-scale landslide that developed in the stepoverarea of the western margin of the basin.Although syn-sedimentary deformational structures can be attributed to a simple seismic shaking,they appear to display a close spatial and temporal relationship with the tectonic framework of theregion, shaped by NE/NW-trending strike-slip faults and E-W-trending oblique-slip normal faults ofQuaternary age. The main events and aftershocks of the İzmir earthquakes clustered on this faultpattern, indicating a negative flower structure that is real evidence of earthquake related tectonicframework. This flower structure is characterized by an arrray of upward-diverging strike-slipdominated zone that shaped the Quaternary Urla Basin.