Morphometric characteristics of the Malatya Fault

Abstract

Malatya Fault (MF) is a 140 km-long sinistral structure, which strikes of about N20°E in the most eastern parts the Central Anatolia ‘ova’ Province. The MF is made of five geometric segments that have distinct deformation properties. I defined a total of 27 drainage basins (H01 to H27) along with this tectonic structure and applied the basic morphometric indices, such as hypsometry (HI), concavity and normalised steepness (θ, ksn) and channel profile integral analyses (χ) to quantify the evolution of the landscape along the fault. The results of this study represent that the northernmost segment, FS1, and the surrounding region are strongly shaped under the effect of the vertical motions. Further to the south, the drainage basins the FS2 and FS3 relatively display moderate values, except the H10 that is located at the extensional step-over boundary between these two segments. Morphometric values suggest a balance between tectonics and erosion for the northern and southern sections of the FS3, whereas The HI values with lower than 0.3 suggest a dominant erosion for its central parts. My analyses along two sub-parallel segments, FS4 and FS5, also point a balance between erosional and tectonic forces with amoderate to low HI and ksn values. In addition to quantification of the vertical motions, I tried to determine the successive uplifting and quiescence periods by using the channel profile integral analyses (χ). The estimated series of uplifting and quiescence periods well correlate with terrace formations, which are observed in the field. The study along the MF shows that morphometric analyses are important tools, particularly where there is none or limited field-based geomorphological and/or geological data. In this study, my results do not provide information only for the evolution of the landscape along the MF, but it also shows a potential for similar intra-plate settings in the earth.

Keywords

• Tectonic geomorphology
• Malatya Fault
• Morphometry
• Uplift

Malatya Fayı’nın morfometrik özellikleri

Abstract

Malatya Fayı (MF), Orta Anadolu ‘ova’ Bölgesi’nin en doğu kesimlerinde yaklaşık K20°D doğrultusuna sahip ve 140 km uzunluğunda sol yanal doğrultu atımlı bir tektonik yapıdır. Beş farklı geometrik segmentten oluşan MF, bölgedeki diğer yapılar ile etkileşimi ve geometrisi yüzünden farklı deformasyon özelliklerine sahiptir. Bu tektonik yapının yer yüzü şekillerine olan etkisinin anlaşılması için, MF ve yakın civarında belirlenen toplam 27 adet akaçlama havzası üzerinde hipsometri (HI), konkavlık ve normalize diklik (θ, ksn) ve boyuna profillerin integral (χ) analizleri gibi morfometrik indisler çalışılmıştır. Elde edilen sonuçlara göre, MF’nin en kuzey kesimini oluşturan FS1 segmenti ve civarı en yüksek düşey hareketlerin görüldüğü alandır. Bunu güneye doğru FS2 ve FS3 izler. FS2 genel olarak orta-yüksek HI ve ksn ile dikkati çekerken, FS2 ve FS3’ün sınırında hesaplanan düşük değerler bu iki segmentin açılmalı sıçrama yaparak yerel bir gerilmeye sebep olmasından kaynaklanır. FS3’ün kuzey ve güney kesimlerinde tektonizma ve erozyon arasında göreceli bir denge söz konusuyken, orta kesimlerinde 0.3’den düşük elde edilen HI değerlerine göre aşınmanın baskın olduğu görülmüştür. Birbirlerine paralel FS4 ve FS5 segmentleri boyunca yapılan analizler erozyon ve tektonik kuvvetler arasında bir dengeye işaret eder. Seçilmiş havzalar için yapılan χ analizinde, elde edilen yükselme ve durgunluk süreçleri ile sahada gözlenen taraça oluşumları arasında bir uyum söz konusudur. MF özelinde uygulanan morfometrik indisler, fayın farklı kesimleri için düşey topoğrafya değişimi hakkında bilgi vermekle kalmamış, aynı zamanda birbirini takip eden yükselme ve duraksama süreçlerine ve yer şekillerinin daha iyi anlaşılması için yeni çalışma noktalarına işaret etmiştir.

Keywords

• tektonik jeomorfoloji
• Malatya Fayı
• morfometri
• yükselme

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