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From subduction to transform motion: a seabeam survey of the Hellenic trench system

1979; Elsevier BV; Volume: 44; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0012-821x(79)90082-7

1385-013X

Xavier Le Pichon, Jacques Angelier, Jean Aubouin, Nicolas Lybéris, Serge Monti, Vincent Renard, Henri Got, K. JINGHWA HSÜ, Yossi Mart, Jean Masclé, D. H. Matthews, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Pandelis Tsoflias, Georges Chronis,

Geological and Geochemical Analysis

Preliminary results of a multi-narrow beam survey of the Hellenic trench system, in the Eastern Mediterranean, are presented. The southwestern Ionian branch is divided in small basins, partly filled with Pleistocene sediments. The morphology suggests that the basins are deformed by a compressional stress acting roughly perpendicularly to the trench along N50°E. This direction is the direction of the regional slip vector of the shallow thrust-type earthquakes. The structure of the southeastern Pliny-Strabo branch is quite different. Narrow en-e´chelon slots, oriented N40°E, have been mapped within the main troughs oriented N60°E. The regional earthquake slip vector is also oriented along N40°E. We conclude that the Hellenic trench system is an active subduction system, dominated by thrust along the Ionian branch and by transform motion along the Pliny-Strabo branch.