The effects of the North Anatolian Fault on the geomorphology in the Eastern Marmara Region, Northwestern Turkey

Abstract

North-western Anatolia has been actively deformed since Pliocene by the right-lateral North Anatolian Fault (NAF). This transform fault, which has a transtensional character in its western end due to effects from the Aegean extensional system, is a major control on the regional geomorphologic evolution. This study applied some geomorphic analyses, such as stream longitudinal profiles, stream length-gradient index, ratio of valley floor width and valley height, mountain front sinuosity, hypsometry and asymmetry factor analyses, to an area just east of the Sea of Marmara in order to understand the tectonic effects on the area’s geomorphological evolution. The active and fastest northern branch of the NAF lies within a topographic depression connecting Sea of Marmara in the east to the Adapazari Basin in the west. This depression filled with early Pleistocene and younger sediment after a series of pull-apart basins opened along the NAF. North of this depression lies the Kocaeli Peneplain, whose southern edge...