“ATHENA vs. EGELADUS: Interaction between the Hellenic Subduction and the North Anatolian Fault: Implications for the intra-plate deformation and seismic hazard in the Aegean” aims to seek answers to the long-standing questions on the intraplate deformation and kinematics in the Aegean.
The total budget of the approved project was 1,248,188 Euros, including 1,056,187 Euros
SUPPORT
The following international Research Centers and Universities supported the project by providing Letters of Support:
Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, France
University of Southampton / National Oceanography Center (NOC), UK
Institute of Marine Science - CSIC Barcelona, Spain
Institut des Sciences de la Terre Paris (ISTeP) CNRS-Sorbonne Université
GEOMAR, Germany
Marine Geology and Geophysics Group, University of Lisbon (Portugal)
Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Saudi Geological Survey, Saudi Arabia
SCOPE
The Plio-Quaternary and ongoing tectonic deformation of the Aegean “microplate” results from the subduction of the African lithosphere (Hellenic Subduction) and its interaction with the westward motion of Anatolia along the dextral strike-slip North Anatolian Fault (NAF). This universally accepted conclusion has been reached after decades-long geological, geophysical, seismological, geodetic research and fragmentary marine geophysical surveys. Albeit, the kinematics and the complicated pattern of deformation within the Aegean “microplate” and along its boundaries have not been systematically described, nor convincingly explained or adequately understood.
To do so:
1. A complete, multi-channel seismic (MCS) profiling system will be purchased, installed and used on board the HCMR’s research vessel AEGAEO to acquire new, high-quality, down-to-basement penetrating, MCS profiles in the North and South Aegean Sea and the Hellenic Arc
2. Processing and interpretation of the MCS profiles will explore a recently published by HCMR’s scientists, groundbreaking theory, which claims that composite, strike-slip tectonics can adequately explain the complicated geodynamic structure and kinematics within the overriding Aegean “microplate”, between the dextral NAF (north) and the sinistral Strabo/Pliny Trench (south) and may therefore provide a solid background for a better understanding of the seismic hazard.
“ATHENA vs. EGELADUS: Interaction between the Hellenic Subduction and the North Anatolian Fault: Implications for the intra-plate deformation and seismic hazard in the Aegean”