ALBERT

Description: Episodic gas seepage occurs at the seafloor in the Gulf of Izmit (Sea of Marmara, NW Turkey) along the submerged segment of the North Anatolian Fault (NAF), which ruptured during the 1999 Mw7.4 Izmit earthquake, and caused tectonic loading of the fault segment in front of the Istanbul metropolitan area. In order to study gas seepage and seismic energy release along the NAF, a multiparametric benthic observatory (SN-4) was deployed in the gulf at the western end of the 1999 Izmit earthquake rupture, and operated for about 1 yr at 166 m water depth. The SN-4 payload included a three-component broad-band seismometer, as well as gas and oceanographic sensors. We analysed data collected continuously for 161 d in the first part of the experiment, from 2009 October to 2010 March. The main objective of our work was to verify whether tectonic deformation along the NAF could trigger methane seepage. For this reason, we considered only local seismicity, that is, within 100 km from the station. No significant (ML ≥ 3.6) local earthquakes occurred during this period; on the other hand, the seismometer recorded high-frequency SDEs (short duration events), which are not related to seismicity but to abrupt increases of dissolved methane concentration in the sea water that we called MPEs (methane peak events). Acquisition of current velocity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, temperature and salinity, allowed us to analyse the local oceanographic setting during each event, and correlate SDEs to episodic gas discharges from the seabed. We noted that MPEs are the result of such gas releases, but are detected only under favourable oceanographic conditions. This stresses the importance of collecting long-term multiparametric time-series to address complex phenomena such as gas and seismic energy release at the seafloor. Results from the SN-4 experiment in the Sea of Marmara suggest that neither low-magnitude local seismicity, nor regional events affect intensity and frequency of gas flows from the seafloor.

Description: High-resolution 3-D seismic data acquired in the Sea of Marmara on the Western High, along the northwestern branch of the North Anatolian Fault (also known as the Main Marmara Fault), shed new light on the evolution of the deformation over the last 500–600 ka. Sedimentary sequences in ponded basins are correlated with glacioeustatic cycles and transitions between marine and low sea/lake environments in the Sea of Marmara. In the 3 × 11 km2 of the 3-D seismic survey, deformation over the last 405–490 ka is localized along the main fault branch and north of it, where N130°–N140° trending normal faults and N40°–N50° folding accommodated strike-slip deformation associated with active argillokinesis. There is some evidence that deformation was more distributed further back in the past, at least over the depth range (〈600 m below seafloor) of our survey. A N110° basin and buried ridge system were eventually cut by the presently active fault. The southern part of the basin was then uplifted, while the northern part was folded but continued to subside along the fault. A mass transport deposits complex dated between 405–490 ka shows a lateral displacement of 7.7 ± 0.3 km, corresponding to an estimated slip rate of 15.1–19.7 mm/a. We conclude that this strand of the Main Marmara Fault on the Western High has taken up most of the strike slip motion between the Anatolian and Eurasian plates over the last 405 ka at least.