The geodynamics of the Aegean and Anatolia: introduction

The complexity of the plate interactions and associated crustal deformation in the Eastern Mediterranean region is reflected in many destructive earthquakes that have occurred throughout its recorded history, many of which are well documented and intensively studied. The Eastern Mediterranean region, including the surrounding areas of western Turkey and Greece, is indeed one of the most seismically active and rapidly deforming regions within the continents (Fig. 1). Thus, the region provides a unique opportunity to improve our understanding of the complexities of continental tectonics in an actively collisional orogen. The major scientific observations from this natural laboratory have clearly been helping us to better understand the tectonic processes in active collision zones, the mode and nature of continental growth, and the causes and distribution of seismic, volcanic and geomorphological events (e.g. tsunamis) and their impact on societal life and civilization. The tectonic evolution of the Eastern Mediterranean region is dominated by the effects of subduction along the Hellenic (Aegean) arc and of continental collision in eastern Turkey (Anatolia) and the Caucasus. Northward subduction of the African plate beneath western Turkey and the Aegean region is causing extension of the continental crust and volcanism in the overlying Aegean extensional province. Eastern Turkey has been experiencing crustal shortening and thickening as a result of northward motion of the Arabian plate relative to Eurasia and the attendant postcollisional magmatism (Taymaz et al. 1990, 1991a, b; McClusky et al. 2000, 2003; Dilek Fig. 2). The resulting combination of forces (the ‘pull’ from the subduction zone to the west and ‘push’ from the convergent zone to the east) is causing the Turkish plate to move southwestward, bounded by strike-slip fault zones: the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) to the north and the East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ) to the south. Interplay between dynamic effects of the relative motions of adjoining plates thus controls large-scale crustal deformation and the associated seismicity and volcanism in Anatolia and the Aegean region (Taymaz et al. 2004).