progradation of the late quaternary gediz delta turkey abstract detailed 3 5 khz seismic reflection profiling and coring have shown that the continental shelf break and slope off izmir bay turkey are formed by prograding deltaic silty mud sequences the muds contain shallow brackish water benthic and cold water planktonic foraminifera they were deposited when sea level was about 110 m below its present position during the last pleistocene glaciation slumping took place on the prodelta slope leaving rotational slump scars and imbricate slump blocks downslope delta top truncation took place in shallow water by erosive coastline retreat after distributary abandonment there has been little or no sedimentation since that time outer izmir bay is thus floored by relict sands following rapid post glacial transgression the gediz delta was reestablished in izmir bay archaeological evidence shows it has prograded during the last 3000 yrs at least six shifts in the position of the gediz mouth are distinguished during this time and abandoned delta top channels can be correlated with submarine delta lobe sequences

geology of the saros graben and its implications for the evolution of the north anatolian fault in the ganos saros region northwestern turkey abstract palaeo and neo tectonic evolutions of the gulf of saros northwestern turkey were investigated based on geological mapping geomorphology seismicity and gps measurements in this area three overlapping basins were differentiated the thrace enez and saros basins the thrace basin opened during the middle eocene on the continental strandja massif as a post collisional fault controlled extensional basin after the closing of the intra pontide ocean to the south this basin reached its greatest extent during the late eocene early oligocene and then turned into an intramontane terrestrial basin from the middle miocene onwards the enez basin opened along the southern margin of the former thrace basin as an e w trending half graben during the middle miocene the age and geometry of this basin corresponds to the extensional basins of the aegean graben system to the south stratigraphy and structures related to the north anatolian fault indicate that the fault started to be active since pliocene and modified older structures the fault zone evolved in two stages in and around the gulf of saros during the initial stage the fault was trending as a single segment with a transpressional nature and without any stepping and caused thrusting and folding subparallel to the main trace of the fault since the late pliocene the fault was left stepping in the saros area giving rise to the saros pull apart basin we modelled these two stages by using boundary element method and found that there is a good correlation between the modelling results and geology and geomorphology

oxygen isotopes and sea level from the time that detailed oxygen isotope records derived from foraminifera living in the constant temperature environment of the abyssal ocean became available there has been a discrepancy between the ice volume record that these records imply and that derived from the altitude of dated coral terraces around the world here we re examine the data and conclude that the temperature of the abyssal ocean has been an actively varying component of the climate system

active tectonics of the north and central aegean sea summary in this paper we examine the connection between the westward motion of turkey relative to europe and the extension in and around the aegean sea the principal new data available since the last attempt to synthesize the tectonics of this region by mckenzie 1978 are much improved focal mechanisms of earthquakes constrained by p and sh body wave modelling as well as by first motions these mechanisms show that the faulting in the western part of the aegean region is mostly extensional in nature on normal faults with a nw to wnw strike and with slip vectors directed nnw to nne there is evidence from palaeomagnetism that this western region rotates clockwise relative to stable europe in the central and eastern aegean and in nw turkey distributed right lateral strike slip is more prevalent on faults trending ne to ene and with slip vectors directed ne palaeomagnetic data in this eastern region is more ambiguous but consistent with very small or no rotations in the northern part and possibly anticlockwise rotations relative to europe in the south the strike slip faulting that enters the central aegean from the east appears to end abruptly in the sw against the nw trending normal faults of greece the kinematics of the deformation is controlled by three factors the westward motion of turkey relative to europe the continental collision between nw greece albania and the apulia adriatic platform in the west and the presence of the hellenic subduction zone to the south as the right lateral slip on the north anatolian fault enters the aegean region it splays out becoming distributed on several parallel faults the continental shortening in nw greece and albania does not allow the rotation of the western margin of the region to be rapid enough to accommodate this distributed e w right lateral shear and thus leads to e w shortening in the northern aegean which is compensated by n s extension as the southern aegean margin can move easily over the hellenic subduction zone the dynamics of the system once initiated is self sustaining being driven by the high topography in eastern turkey and by the roll back of the subducted slab beneath the southern aegean the geometry of the deformation resembles the behaviour of a system of broken slats attached to margins that rotate in spite of its extreme simplicity a simple model of such broken slats is able to reproduce quantitatively most of the features of the instantaneous velocity field in the aegean region including the slip vectors and nature of the faulting in the eastern and western parts the senses and approximate rates of rotation the overall extensional velocity across the aegean and the distribution of strain rates as seen in the seismicity and topography or bathymetry and using geodetic measurements as part of this study we re examined the relation between the surface faulting and the focal parameters determined seismologically for the three large 1981 gulf of corinth earthquakes and reassessed the evidence for associating particular earthquakes in the sequence with observed surface faulting an important result is that in one of the events there is a resolvable discrepancy between the slip vector measured at the surface and that determined from the seismic body waves

high resolution seismic reflection profiles for the reconstruction of postglacial transgressive shorelines an example from greece abstract in 1982 we carried out a shallow penetration high resolution seismic profiling study on the shelf of the southern argolid peloponnesos greece to identify and map the shores of the late pleistocene and holocene and to establish their coastal environments portable equipment and a local boat were used the lowest glacial shore occurs at 115 to 118 m within the range of global values the subsequent rise across the distinct old land surface left behind many shore features scaps beaches and beach ridges channels and lagoons now buried under a few meters of post transgressive deposits these features cluster at a small number of depths below present sea level suggesting that the rise of the sea usually too fast to leave an imprint was episodically interrupted by brief stillstands or even temporary reversals of climatic or tectonic origin the clusters can be roughly dated with reference to a global sea level rise curve after 6000 yr b p sparse archaeological data establish a local curve the seismic profiling technique convenient and not costly holds promise for the identification of postglacial shores elsewhere prior to sampling for dating it has wide application for environmental reconstructions of vanished coastal zones as a basis for prehistoric resource assessments these applications are illustrated with examples from this study

possible strand of the north anatolian fault in the thrace basin turkey an interpretation the north anatolian fault is a 1200 km long major transform fault bounding the anatolian plate on its north side the fault formed during the late middle miocene as a broad shear zone with a number of strands splaying westward in a horsetail pattern later movement became localized along a central strand and the southerly and northerly splays became inactive the west northwest striking thrace strike slip fault system is one of these right lateral presently inactive splays it consists of three subparallel strike slip faults from north to south these are the kirklareli luleburgaz and babaeski fault zones which extend for about 130 km through the thrace basin the thrace fault zone probably connected to the southeast with the presently active northern strand of the north anatolian fault in the marmara sea to the northwest the zone may have extended to the plovdiv graben zone in bulgaria the cenozoic thrace basin contains middle eocene to pliocene sedimentary rocks the thrace right lateral wrench fault system formed prior to the pliocene and had become inactive by the pliocene strike slip fault zones with normal and reverse separation are detected by seismic reflection profiles and subsurface data as the system became inactive the motion on the north anatolian fault zone began to be accommodated in the marmara sea region thus the thrace fault system represents the oldest strand of the north anatolian fault to the west of istanbul releasing bend extensional structures and restraining bend compressional structures are abundant along the fault zones several hydrocarbon producing anticlines lie en echelon to the luleburgaz fault zone regionally the thrace fault ystem has a horsetail shape with the various strands becoming younger southward

late quaternary sedimentation on the north aegean continental margin greece the late quaternary seismic stratigraphy of the north aegean continental shelf and adjacent basins has been interpreted from boomer and 3 5 khz seismic profiles ages derived from shallow cores and offshore wells and relative offsets on small synsedimentary faults provide chronological control sea level history inferred from seismic stratigraphy correlates with the global eustatic sea level record based on oxygen isotopic curves outer shelf progradation correlates with lowstands of sea level in isotopic stages 2 3 and 6 whereas shelf wide transgression surfaces correspond to the stage 6 5 and 2 1 transitions when rapid deglaciation occurred the present depth of the delta plain formed on the outer shelf during the late stage 6 lowstand provides a dated and originally horizontal marker for estimating rates of tectonic subsidence gross distribution of sediment facies is similar in both tectonically stable and active areas the shelf break formed by delta progradation but is marked by faults in most places because of the accommodation provided by graben subsidence rates of 0 3 1 5 mm yr standard sequence stratigraphic analysis can be applied to these sediments deposited during high amplitude quaternary sea level oscillations high rates of subsidence result in the preservation of an unusually complete record of sea level change major lowstand progradation is dependent on the duration rather than the magnitude of sea level lowstand the long glaciations in isotopic stages 6 12 16 and 22 resulted in the most prominent seaward progradation on the margin sandy lowstand turbidite deposits formed only when there was rapid fall in sea level otherwise sand was trapped on delta tops and silty muds were deposited in deep water

palaeogeographical evolution of the thrace neogene basin and the tethys paratethys relations at northwestern turkey thrace abstract the thrace neogene basin situated in northwestern turkey was initiated by strike slip faulting that was active from the early miocene until the end of the pliocene during the early miocene it began to form under the control of the thrace eskisehir fault zone initiated by continental collision in northwestern anatolia late oligocene early miocene during the late early miocene the basin was a site of mainly fluviatile and limnic sedimentation to the west and marine sedimentation via the paratethyan transgression in the north with the onset of the middle miocene the thrace block started to rotate in a counterclockwise sense and escaped westward with respect to the strandja istanbul block owing to rejuvenation of fossil fault systems within it in this period warm marine conditions were also established around the gulf of saros through a mediterranean originated transgression during the middle late miocene fluviatile and limnic conditions were created over the western thrace by the westerly propagation of the thrace eskisehir fault zone one of the principal results of the early middle miocene tectonics is the tilting of the strandja istanbul block to the south severing the tethys and the paratethys during the latest miocene early pliocene period the thrace eskisehir fault zone was deactivated because of the evolution of the north anatolian fault zone to the south the resurrected ganos fault zone situated on the dissected fossil suture zone in the sea of marmara also joined the north anatolian fault zone uplifting the gelibolu peninsula and thus severing the connection that existed between the sea of marmara and the paratethys the sea of marmara eventually became an endemic basin by the activity of the north anatolian fault zone

high resolution seismic profiling in the sea of marmara northwest turkey late quaternary sedimentation and sea level changes high resolution sparker seismic profiling was carried out in the sea of marmara northwest turkey to study the late quaternary tectonics and sedimentation of this important active basin at the western end of the north anatolian fault zone a sedimentary unit interpreted as the clinoforms of a prograding delta was observed in places along the outer part of the southern shelf the topset foreset transitions of the latest clinoforms cluster around 100 m below present sea level they were probably deposited during the last glacial maximum and early phase of deglaciation between 25 and 13 k y b p when the level of the aegean was below that of the dardanelles sill 60 70 m below sea level at present therefore the sea of marmara was isolated from the aegean during the last glacial maximum but it is possible that a fluvial overflow existed across the dardanelles during this time stabilizing the level of the marmara lake and allowing the delta progradation rivers that drain into the sea of marmara from the south have a much greater combined drainage basin area and sediment flux than those draining the region to the north this may explain the much broader shelf to the south half graben bounded by north dipping normal faults observed within the southern shelf would tend to trap sediment sourced from the south and subdue any sea bed morphology on the shelf

puzzles and the maximum effective moment mem criterion in structural geology abstract the essential difference in the formation between conjugate brittle shear fractures and ductile shear zones is that the intersection angle of conjugate faults in the contractional quadrants in the former is acute usually 60 and obtuse usually 110 in the latter the mohr coulomb failure criterion is an experimentally validated empirical relationship which structural geologists use to interpret the stress directions based on the orientation of the brittle shear fractures however a simple application of this criterion assuming that the principal stresses are vertical or horizontal throughout the crust fails to explain crustal scale low angle normal faults high angle reverse faults and certain types of conjugate strike slip faults that have intersection angles in the compressional quadrants greater than 90 although the maximum effective moment mem criterion has been used to analyze structures in several natural cases and obtained some new evidence in nature and experiments it is not yet commonly used to interpret non mohr coulomb features widely distributed in the crust it is important to review the mem criterion and its implications for explaining the formation mechanism of naturally occurring faults and shear zones behavior of a rock depends on its mechanical properties the latter in turn depends on pressure and temperature conditions related to crustal depth and strain rates conjugate fractures with obtuse angles ca 110 in the contractional direction at different scales and at different crustal levels are consistent with the prediction of the mem criterion and suggest deformation at low strain rates thus strain rate clearly plays an important role in the style of crustal deformation and the many observed departures from the mohr coulomb failure criterion

westward propagation of the north anatolian fault into the northern aegean timing and kinematics we present new evidence for the propagation processes of the north anatolian fault folding in the dardanelles straits region allows us to document the timing of the deformation preceding and the finite displacement after the passage of the propagating tip of the fault the accuracy of the observations is due to interplay between deformation and the sea level changes in the mediterranean the well known messinian regression followed by the pliocene transgression the long term kinematics around the sea of marmara pull apart total displacement of about 85 km over the past 5 m y is similar to the present day kinematics deduced from space geodesy at a larger scale westward propagation of the north anatolian fault over nearly 2000 km in the past 10 m y appears to be associated with strain recovery suggesting that the continental lithosphere retains long term elasticity

origin of the strait of canakkale dardanelles regional tectonics and the mediterranean marmara incursion abstract the regional tectonics and the mid to late quaternary seismic stratigraphy of the strait of canakkale dardanelles and its opening towards the aegean sea were interpreted by using shallow seismic profiles this strait is a narrow valley that resulted from regional uplift of the gelibolu and biga peninsulas in the pliocene as a consequence of compressional events generated by strike slip faulting activity of the ganos fault a northern strand of the north anatolian fault a nne ssw trending fault system between eceabat and canakkale believed to result from the left lateral displacement of the ganos fault on the gelibolu peninsula cut this valley into different segments the connection between the marmara basin and the aegean sea has been achieved after flooding of the connected valleys during the mid to late pleistocene three major sea level lowstands 130 150 m during this period 600 kyear bp interrupted the sea water connection at least twice three main seismic unconformities detected in the sediments of the strait of canakkale represent these lowstands minor sea level lowstands could have induced narrowing of the strait and erosion of depositional units the recent geological history of the strait of canakkale appears as deduced from the gelibolu peninsula and its western regions strongly related to escape tectonics influenced by the compressional forcing of the anatolian block in addition it also shows a morphological evolution which carries the effects of the global sea level variations

evaluation of the global oxygen isotope curve as a proxy for quaternary sea level by modeling of delta progradation patterns of delta progradation in rapidly subsiding basins have been used previously as a proxy for quaternary sea level change major transgression surfaces and maximum lowstand positions are readily recognizable in seismic reflection profiles quaternary sea level change can be approximated by stacked and tuned oxygen isotope records but significant departures from this proxy result from variation in isotopic composition of ice sheets temperature variations in the deep sea and the effect of bioturbation in degrading the isotopic record we analyze the influence of rapid quaternary sea level change on delta progradation in the eastern mediterranean using delta a multi process sediment transport model subsidence rates and sediment inputs may vary through time but compared to quaternary sea level change such variations were minor and had little effect on model results for a variety of geologically reasonable sediment inputs and subsidence rates the delta architecture observed in seismic profiles could not be reproduced when the sea level estimates were taken directly from a scaled global oxygen isotopic curve however when this sea level curve was corrected to include independent estimates of sea level from geological data elsewhere in the world previously used sediment inputs and subsidence rates invariably predict the general form of the observed architecture the difference between isotopic and geological estimates of sea level for the last 200 ka follows a linear trend that was applied to previous glacial interglacial cycles producing a corrected sea level history for the last 540 ka using delta over this time span the sea level history based directly on the oxygen isotope curve was again less able to reproduce the observed delta architecture compared with a corrected sea level history this study shows the importance of modeling delta progradation as an avenue for testing and exploring quaternary sea level history

tectonic elements controlling the evolution of the gulf of saros northeastern aegean sea turkey abstract tectonic elements controlling the evolution of the gulf of saros have been studied based upon the high resolution shallow seismic data integrated with the geological field observations evolution of the gulf of saros started in the middle to late miocene due to the nw se compression caused by the counterclockwise movement of the thrace and biga peninsulas along the thrace fault zone hence the north anatolian fault zone is not an active structural element responsible for the starting of the evolution of the gulf of saros the compression caused by the rotational movement was compensated by tectonic escape along the pre existing ganos fault system two most significant controllers of this deformation are the sinistral ganos fault and the dextral northern saros fault zone both extending along the gulf of saros the most important evidences of this movement are the left and right oriented shear deformations which are correlated with structural elements observed on the land and on the high resolution shallow seismic records at the sea another important line of evidence supporting the evolution of this deformation is that the transgression started in the early late miocene and turned as a result of regional uplift into a regression on the gelibolu peninsula during the turolian and in the north of the saros trough during the early pliocene the deformation on the gelibolu peninsula continued effectively until the pleistocene taking into account the fact that this deformation affected the late pleistocene units of the marmara formation the graben formation of the gulf of saros is interpreted as a recent event however at least a small amount of compression on the gelibolu peninsula is observed it is also evident that compression ceased at the northern shelf area of the gulf of saros

quaternary evolution of the corinth rift and its implications for the late cenozoic evolution of the aegean summary we present geological and morphological observations at different scales to constrain rates of faulting and the distribution of deformation in the seismically active aegean region we focus first on the 130 km long corinth rift an asymmetric graben where a flight of terraces of marine origin are uplifted we show that the edges of the terraces lie in the footwall of the normal fault bounding the corinth rift and correspond to sea level highstands of laic pleistocene age using a detailed analysis of aerial and spot imagery supported by field observations we have mapped 10 terrace platforms and strandlines ranging in elevation from 10 to 400 m over distances of 2 to 20 km from the fault the elevation of the terraces inner edges was estimated at 172 sites with an error of 5m this data set contains a precise description of the uplift and flexure of 10 different palaeohorizontal lines with respect to the present sea level to date the deformation we correlate the corinth terraces with late pleistocene oxygen isotope stages of high sea level stands and with global sea level fluctuations using a thick elastic plate model consistent with our current understanding of the earthquake cycle and a boundary element technique we reproduce the geometry of the shorelines to constrain both mechanical parameters and the slip on the fault we show that the seismogenic layer behaves over the long term as if its elastic modulus were reduced by a factor of about 1000 all the terraces are fitted for fault slip increasing in proportion to terrace age and the component of regional uplift is found to be less than 0 3 mm yr 1 the best fits give a slip rate of 11 3 mm yr 1 on the main rift bounding fault over the last 350 kyr other geological and morphologic information allows us to estimate the total age of the main fault 1 ma and to examine the mechanical evolution of the corinth rift the minimum observed sediment thickness in the gulf places an extreme check on the results of the modelling and a lower bound on slip rate of 6 7 mm yr 1 40 per cent less than estimated with modelling even this slip rate is nearly 10 times higher than for comparable features in most of the aegean and elsewhere in the world at a larger scale the spacing and asymmetry of the rift systems in the aegean suggest strain localization in the upper mantle with slow extension starting 15 myr ago or earlier the more recent 1 myr rapid phase of rifting in corinth partly reactivated this earlier phase of extension the younger faulting in corinth appears to result from its present location in the inhomogeneous stress field process zone of the south westward propagating tip of the southern branch of the north anatolian fault we extend these relations to propose a mechanical model for the late cenozoic evolution of the aegean as the arabia europe collision progressed in eastern turkey it caused anatolia to move to the west and the north anatolian fault to propagate into the aegean where the early slow extension started to be modified about 5 ma ago the process of propagation dramatically increased the activity of some but not all of the earlier rifts the model we present is compatible with tectonic observations as well as with the seismicity the palaeomagnetic rotations and the displacement field now observed with gps and slr

deformation of indian ocean lithosphere evidence for a highly nonlinear rheological law the width of diffuse oceanic plate boundaries is determined by the rheology of oceanic lithosphere here we apply thin viscous sheet models which have been successfully applied to deformation in several continental deforming zones to investigate the deformation of oceanic lithosphere in the diffuse oceanic plate boundaries between the india capricorn and australia plates we apply kinematic boundary conditions based on the current motion between these plates we neglect buoyancy forces due to plate thinning or thickening and assume that the thin viscous sheet has the same depth integrated nonlinear viscosity coefficient everywhere our initial models have only one adjustable parameter n the power law exponent with n 1 3 10 30 and 100 the predicted width of the deforming zone decreases with increasing n with n 30 explaining the observations this n value is higher than has been estimated for continental lithosphere and suggests that more of the strength of oceanic lithosphere lies in layers deforming by faulting or by dislocation glide than for continental lithosphere to obtain a stress field that better fits the distribution and type of earthquake focal mechanisms in the diffuse oceanic plate boundary we add a second adjustable parameter representing the effect of slab pull stretching the oceanic plate near the sumatra trench we show that an average velocity increment on this boundary segment of 5 mm a 1 relative to the average velocity of the india and australia plates fits the observed distribution of fault types better than velocities of 3 3 mm a 1 or 10 mm a 1

oscillating quaternary water levels of the marmara sea and vigorous outflow into the aegean sea from the marmara sea black sea drainage corridor abstract detailed interpretation of single channel air gun and deep tow boomer profiles demonstrates that the marmara sea turkey experienced small amplitude 70 m fluctuations in sea level during the later quaternary limited in magnitude by the sill depth of the strait of dardanelles moderate subsidence along the southern shelf and quaternary glacio eustatic sea level variations created several stacked deltaic successions separated by major shelf crossing unconformities which developed during the transitions from global glacial to interglacial periods near the strait of dardanelles a series of sand prone deposits are identified beneath an uppermost holocene transparent mud drape the sandy deposits thicken into mounds with the morphology and cross sectional geometries of barrier islands sand waves and current generated marine bars all cross stratification indicates unidirectional flow towards the dardanelles prior to the deposition of the transparent drape which began 7000 years bp in strong support of the notion that the marmara sea flowed westwards into the aegean sea through the dardanelles at times of deglaciation in northern europe the global sea level curve shows that at 11 000 and 9500 years bp sea level rose to the sill depths of the straits of dardanelles and bosphorus respectively the effect from 11 000 to 9500 years bp was seawater incursion into the marmara sea drowning and formation of algal serpulid bioherms atop lowstand barrier islands and transgression of shelves and lowstand deltas at 9500 years bp glacial meltwater temporarily stored in the black sea lake developed into a vigorous southward flow toward the aegean sea forming west directed sandy bedforms in the western marmara sea and initiating deposition of sapropel s1 in the aegean sea this strong outflow persisted until 7000 years bp after which a mud drape began to accumulate in the marmara sea and euryhaline mediterranean mollusks successfully migrated into a progressively more saline black sea where sapropel deposition began most eastern mediterranean sapropels from s1 to s11 appear to correlate with periods of rising sea level and breaching or near breaching of the bosphorus sill these events are believed to coincide with times of vigorous outflow of low salinity fresh surface waters transiting the black sea marmara sea corridor and ultimately derived from melting of northern european ice sheets

late quaternary tectonic and sedimentary history of outer izmir and candarli bays western turkey abstract air gun and 3 5 khz seismic profiles from the eastern aegean sea off turkey show that the continental shelf of outer izmir and candarli bays is formed by several superimposed deltaic sequences during times of lowered sea level associated with late quaternary glaciations deltas prograded seaward more than 60 km from their present positions foreset progradation ceased with the rise of sea level in interglacial and post glacial times and deltas were reestablished far inland in drowned river valleys these major transgressions resulted in unconformities within the superimposed prograded delta sequences the most recent three unconformities are correlated with the beginning of oxygen isotope stages 5 3 and 1 and provide chronostratigraphic markers for a detailed analysis of sedimentation patterns in the late quaternary the coastal shelf and basins are subsiding at an average rate of about 1 m per 1000 years this tectonic subsidence manifests itself as widespread normal block faulting which can be related to the pre miocene structural framework of the region

the aegean sea we summarize briefly the main features of a kinematic model of evolution of the aegean area since 13 ma the formation of the aegean sea by extensional tectonics is related to the subduction of the mediterranean floor below the hellenic arc we then make a quantitative estimate of vertical movements in the aegean area on the basis of geological data and demonstrate that the outer arc was built since the beginning of this episode of subduction by vertical uplift the easiest way to explain the uplift is by underplating finally we discuss briefly the dynamics of the subduction marginal sea formation processes in this continental collision framework

active faults in the sea of marmara western turkey imaged by seismic reflection profiles turkey is moving westward relative to eurasia thereby accommodating the collision between arabia and eurasia this motion is mostly taken up by strike slip deformation along the north and east anatolian faults the sea of marmara lies over the direct westward continuation of the north anatolian fault zone just east of the sea of marmara the north anatolian fault splits into three strands two of which continue into the sea while the locations of the faults are well constrained on land it has not yet been determined how the deformation is transferred across the sea of marmara onto the faults on the west coast of turkey we present results from a seismic reflection survey undertaken to map the faults as they continue through the three deep marmara sea basins of clnarclk central marmara and tekirdag in order to determine how the deformation is distributed across the sea of marmara and how it is taken up on the western side of the sea the data show active dipping faults with associated tilting of sedimentary layers connecting the north anatolian fault to strike slip faults that cut the biga and gallipoli peninsulas