Structure of the East Anatolian Fault at the Hazar Basin, eastern Turkey

Hazar Basin is a transtensional structure located on the central East Anatolian Fault in eastern Turkey. This basin is generally interpreted as a large pull-apart basin because of its onshore geomorphology and fault geometry. However, the structure of the basin beneath Lake Hazar, which occupies almost the entire basin, has never been studied in detail. This study presents and discusses a new structural map of Hazar basin based on a high-resolution seismic survey undertaken at Lake Hazar during summer 2007. This structural map reveals that the main strand of the East Anatolian fault is continuous across Hazar Basin. Therefore, in contrast to many pre-existing studies, the East Anatolian Fault extends from Palu to Sincik forming a continuous segment of about 130 km.