THE MARAS TRIPLE JUNCTION (SOUTHERN TURKEY) BASED ON DIGITAL ELEVATION MODEL AND SATELLITE IMAGERY INTERPRETATION

This paper describes major structures in the area of the triple juncti on of the African, Anatolian and Arabian plates near Maras (southern T urkey). A review of the literature on the paleogeographic evolution si nce mid-Cretaceous time leads to the idea of the southern Tethys (Meso gea) persisting between Anatolia and Africa-Arabia until middle-late M iocene. Consequently, collision may have started later and northward s ubducting lithosphere may still exist under Anatolia. The Dead Sea fau lt may have initiated near the first collision between the Anatolian c ontinent and the western corner of the African/Arabian continent at wh ich point it may have propagated southward. A digital elevation model, SPOT and Landsat-MSS images, and field work suggest relief is mainly related to finite deformation resulting from on going collision that b egan at around 13 Ma. The images show that the East Anatolian fault do es not crosscut the central Taurus belt. Field data argue that this be lt is a left-lateral oblique-slip fault zone. The southern contact of Anatolia passes north of the Amanos range (continental part of the Afr ican plate) and connects with the Misis range. To the southwest, the A dana low plain may be regarded as a basin formed at a releasing bend. The Karasu fault zone, which belongs to the Dead Sea fault zone, seems to be transpressive, and in this case the Karasu basin is not a grabe n. North of the Amanos range, the Gurun arc is thrust to the north and may be considered the result of local collision of the uplifting Aman os range into Anatolia. The Maras triple junction is accompanied by de formations affecting ah plates at the regional scale.