Earthquake mechanisms of the Adriatic Sea and Western Greece: implications for the oceanic subduction-continental collision transition |
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| Authors: | Calum Baker Denis Hatzfeld Hélène Lyon-Caen Elephteria Papadimitriou Alexis Rigo † |
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| Institution: | Laboratoire de Géophysique Interne et Tectonophysique, IRIGM, BP53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France. E-mail:;Institut de Physique du Globe, 4 place Jussieu, CP 89, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France;Geophysical Laboratory, Aristotelian University, PO Box 352-1, 540-06 Thessaloniki, Greece |
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| Abstract: | We present 21 focal solutions (magnitude > 5.5) reliably computed by body-wave modelling for the western Hellenic arc from Yugoslavia to the southern Peloponnese. Mechanisms located within the Aegean show normal faulting, the T-axis trending N-S in the centre and parallel to the active boundary in the external part. Mechanisms associated with the Keffalinia fault are consistent with dextral strike-slip motion. Reverse mechanisms located along the active boundary are remarkably consistent and do not depend on the nature of the active boundary (continental collision or oceanic subduction). The consistency in azimuth of the slip vectors and of the GPS velocity relative to Africa, all along the active boundary, suggests that the deformation is related to the same motion. The discrepancy between seismic-energy release and the amount of shortening confirms that the continental collision is achieved by seismic slip on faults but the oceanic subduction is partially aseismic. The northward decrease in velocity between continental collision and oceanic subduction suggests the continental collision to be a recent evolution of the active subduction. |
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| Keywords: | Adriatic Sea continental collision earthquake mechanisms oceanic subduction Western Greece |
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