Abstract
Transition boundary between Zagros continental collision and Makran oceanic-continental subduction can be specified by two wide limits: (a) Oman Line is the seismicity boundary with a sizeable reduction in seismicity rate from Zagros in the west to Makran in the east; and (b) the Zendan-Minab-Palami (ZMP) fault system is believed to be a prominent tectonic boundary. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the stress field in the Zagros-Makran transition zone by the iterative joint inversion method developed by Vavrycuk (Geophysical Journal International 199:69-77, 2014). The results suggest a rather uniform pattern of the stress field around these two boundaries. We compare the results with the strain rates obtained from the Global Positioning System (GPS) network stations. In most cases, the velocity vectors show a relatively good agreement with the stress field except for the Bandar Abbas (BABS) station which displays a relatively large deviation between the stress field and the strain vector. This deviation probably reflects a specific location of the BABS station being in the transition zone between Zagros continental collision and Makran subduction zones.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allmendinger RW, Reilinger R, Loveless J (2007) Strain and rotation rate from GPS in Tibet, Anatolia, and the Altiplano. Tectonics 26:TC3013. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006TC002030
Angelier J (1979) Determination of the mean principal directions of stresses for a given fault population. Tectonophysics 56:17–26
Angelier J (1990) Inversion of field data in fault tectonics to obtain the regional stress, a new rapid direct inversion method by analytical means. Geophys J Int 103:363–376
Armijo R, Carey E, Cisternas A (1982) The inverse problem in microtectonics and the separation of tectonic phases. Tectonophysics 82:145–160
Bayer R, Chery J, Tatar M, Vernant P, Abbassi M, Masson F, Nilforoushan F, Doerflinger E, Regard V, Bellier O (2006) Active deformation in Zagros-Makran transition zone inferred from GPS measurements. Geophys J Int 165:373–381
Bott MHP (1959) The mechanics of oblique slip faulting. Geol Mag 96:109–117
Carey E, Brunier B (1974) Analyse théorique et numérique d'un modèle méchanique élémentaire appliqué à l'étude d'une population de failles. C R Acad Sci 279:891
Etchecopar A, Vasseur G, Daignieres M (1981) An inverse problem in microtectonics for the determination of stress tensors from fault striation analysis. J Struct Geol 3:51–65
Gephart JW, Forsyth DW (1984) An improved method for determining the regional stress tensor using earthquake focal mechanism data: application to the San Fernando earthquake sequence. J Geophys Res 89:9305–9320
Hessami K, Koyi HA, Talbot CJ (2001) The significance of strike-slip faulting in the basement of the zagros fold and thrust belt. J Pet Geol 24(1):5–28
Kadinsky-Cade K, Barazangi M (1982) Seismotectonics of Southern Iran. Tectonics 5:389–412
Leturmy P, Robin C (eds) (2010) Tectonic and stratigraphic evolution of the Zagros and Makran during the Mesozoic–Cenozoic. Geol Soc Spec Publ 330–360
Lund B, Slunga R (1999) Stress tensor inversion using detailed microearthquake information and stability constraints: application to Olfus in southwest Iceland. J Geophys Res 104:4947–4964
Lund B, Townend J (2007) Calculating horizontal stress orientations with full or partial knowledge of the tectonic stress tensor. Geophys J Int 170:1328–1335
Masson F, Anvari M, Djamour Y, Walpersdorf A, Tavakoli F, Daigni'eres M, Nankali H, Van Gorp S (2007) Large-scale velocity field and strain tensor in Iran inferred from GPS measurements: new insight for the present-day deformation pattern within NE Iran. Geophys J Int 170:436–440
Maury J (2013) Analyse du potential sismique d'un secteur lithosphérique au nord-ouest des Alpes. PhD thesis, Université de Strasbourg, France
Michael AJ (1984) Determination of stress from slip data: faults and folds. J Geophys Res 89:11517–11526
Mirzaei N, Gao M, Chen YT (1998) Seismic source regionalization for seismic zoning of Iran: major seismotectonic provinces. Journal of earthquake prediction research 7:465–495
Mirzaei N, Gheitanchi MR, Naserieh S, Raeesi M, Zarifi Z, Tabaei SG (2002) Basic parameters of earthquakes in Iran, Danesh Negar Publications, Tehran, 183 pp, available at http://irsc.ut.ac.ir/BPEI.php
Molinaro M, Guezou JC, Leturmy P, Eshraghi SA, Delamotte D (2004) The origin of changes in structural style across the Bandar Abbas syntaxis, SE Zagros (Iran). Mar Pet Geol 21:735–752
Reches Z (1987) Determination of the tectonic stress tensor from slip along faults that obey the Coulomb yield condition. Tectonics 6:849–861
Regard V, Bellier O, Thomas J, Abbassi MR, Mercier J, Shabanian E, Fegghi K, Soleymani S (2004) The Accommodation of Arabia-Eurasia convergence in the Zagros-Makran transfer zone, SE Iran: a transition between collision and subduction through a young deforming system. Tectonics 23:TC4007
Regard V, Hatzfeld D, Molinaro M, Aubourg C, Bayer R, Bellier O, Yamini-Fard F, Peyret M, Abbassi M (2010) The transition between Makran subduction and the Zagros collision: recent advances in its structure and active deformation, Geol Soc Lond, Spec Publ 330: pp43–64
Sadeghi H, Shoja-Taheri J (2006) Tectonic stress indicators in the Iranian plateau by determining the focal mechanism of the recorded earthquakes. Geosciences 59:102–119
Sato R (1979) Theoretical basis on relationships between focal parameters and earthquake magnitude, journal of physics of the. Earth 27:353–372
Shearman DJ (1977) The geological evolution of southern Iran. Geogr J 142:393–410
Sokos EN, Zahradnik J (2008) ISOLA a Fortran code and a Matlab GUI to perform multiple-point source inversion of seismic data. Comput Geosci 34(8):967–977
Talebian M, Jackson J (2003) A reappraisal of earthquake focal mechanisms and active shortening in the Zagros mountains of Iran. Geophys J Int 156:506–526
Vavrycuk V (2011) Principal earthquakes: theory and observations from the 2008 West Bohemia swarm. Earth Planet Science Letters 305:290–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.03.002
Vavrycuk V (2014) Iterative joint inversion for stress and fault orientations from focal mechanisms. Geophys J Int 199:69–77. https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggu224
Vavrycuk V, Bouchaala F, Fischer T (2013) High-resolution fault image from accurate locations and focal mechanisms of the 2008 swarm earthquakes in West Bohemia, Czech Republic. Tectonophysics 590:189–195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2013.01.025
Vernant P, Nilforoushan F, Hatzfeld D, Abbassi M, Vigny C, Masson F, Nankali H, Martinod J, Ashtiani A, Bayer R, Tavakoli F, Chéry J (2004) Contemporary crustal deformation and plate kinematics in Middle East constrained by GPS measurements in Iran and northern Oman, Geophys J Int 157 :pp381–398
Wallace RE (1951) Geometry of shearing stress and relation to faulting, The Journal of Geology 59 :pp118–130
Yamini-Fard F, Hatzfeld D (2008) Seismic structure beneath ZagrosMakran transition zone (Iran) from teleseismic study: seismological evidence for underthrusting and buckling of the Arabian plate beneath central Iran. JSEE 10(1):11–24
Yamini-Fard F, HatzfeldcD, Farahbod AM, Paul M, Mokhtari M (2007) The diffuse transition between the Zagros continental collision andthe Makran oceanic subduction (Iran): microearthquake seismicityand crustal structure, Geophys J Int 170 :pp182–194
Acknowledgements
We thank V. Vavrycuk for his helpful comments.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ghorbani Rostam, G., Pakzad, M., Mirzaei, N. et al. Analysis of the stress field and strain rate in Zagros-Makran transition zone. J Seismol 22, 287–301 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-017-9705-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-017-9705-x