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Cited by 2,862earthquake and tectonic studiesGeological and Geophysical Studies WorldwideGeological and Geophysical Studies

Active tectonics of the Mediterranean region

Open access
McKenzie, D.·1972·Geophysical Journal International
DOI 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1972.tb02351.x
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Abstract

Examination of more than 100 fault plane solutions for earthquakes within the Alpide belt between the Mid-Atlantic ridge and Eastern Iran shows that the deformation at present occurring is the result of small continental plates moving away from Eastern Turkey and Western Iran. This pattern of movement avoids thickening the continental crust over much of Turkey by consuming the Eastern Mediterranean sea floor instead. The rates of relative motion of two of the small plates involved, the Aegean and the Turkish plates, are estimated, but are only within perhaps 50 per cent of the true values. These estimates are then used to reconstruct the geometry of the Mediterranean 10 million years ago. The principal difference from the present geometry is the smooth curved coast which then formed the southern coast of Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey. This coast has since been distorted by the motion of the two small plates. Similar complications have probably been common in older mountain belts, and therefore local geological features may not have been formed by the motion between major plates. A curious feature of several of the large shocks for which fault plane solutions could be obtained for the main shock and one major after-shock was that the two often had different mechanisms.

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  • In the Eastern Mediterranean, the small Aegean plate has an island arc along its southern margin and a ridge along its northern margin.

    “In the Eastern Mediterranean the small Aegean plate has an island arc along its southern margin and a ridge along its northern (McKenzie 1972).”

    From Speculations on the Thermal and Tectonic History of the Earth (2007) · cites this paper as McKenzie 1972

    Section 5 describes the Cretan Arc at the Aegean plate’s southern margin, and the FIG. passage sketches spreading ridge segments across the northern Aegean. But it says a continuous northern plate boundary is uncertain and that no feature there resembles a normal oceanic ridge; describing the north as simply having “a ridge” overstates the source. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Aubouin, J., Brunn, J. H., Celet, P., Dercourt, J., Godfriauz, I. & Mercier, J., 1963. Esquisse de la geologie de la Grece, Fallot Volume 11, pp. 583-610.
  2. Galanopoulos, A. G. & Delibasis, N. D., 1965. Seismic activity in the Cyprus area, Proc. Athens Acad., 40, 387.
  3. Ryan, W. B. F., Stanley, D. J., Hersey, J. B., Fahlquist, D. A. & Allan, T. D., 1970. The tectonics and geology of the Mediterranean, The Sea, Vol. 4, p. 387, ed.
  4. A. E. Maxwell, Wiley-Interscience.

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Authors
McKenzie, D.
Affiliations
University of Cambridge (GB)
Corresponding author
McKenzie, D.
ORCID
McKenzie, D.
Venue
Geophysical Journal International
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
1972-12-01
Volume
30
Issue
2
Pages
109-185
ISSN
  • 0956-540X (ISSN-L)
  • 1365-246X
DOI
10.1111/j.1365-246x.1972.tb02351.x
OpenAlex
W2155472085
Cited by
2,862
References
80
Citations by year
2026: 62 · 2025: 91 · 2024: 101 · 2023: 114 · 2022: 78 · 2021: 124 · 2020: 83 · 2019: 67 · 2018: 102 · 2017: 102 · 2016: 89 · 2015: 66 · 2014: 76 · 2013: 73 · 2012: 80
FWCI
16.14
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
Geophysical Journal International (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • California Institute of Technology
  • U.S. Air Force
  • Office of Naval Research
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geophysics › earthquake and tectonic studies
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geophysics › Geological and Geophysical Studies Worldwide
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geology › Geological and Geophysical Studies
Keywords
active tectonics, Mediterranean, earthquake source mechanism, earthquake focal mechanisms, plate motion rates, tectonic reconstruction, continental rifting, crustal thickening, paleogeography

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