Determination of neotectonic features of the Karasu Basin (SE Turkey) and their relationship with Quaternary volcanic activity using Landsat ETM plus imagery

Abstract

The junction between the East Anatolian and the Dead Sea fault zones lies close to an unstable F: Transform fault (FFF) triple junction where the African, Eurasian and Arabian plates meet in south-eastern Turkey. The Karasu Basin is an ephemeral rifted structure located close to the junction of these plate boundaries and is expressed by a range of tectono-morphological features. This study uses remote sensing to define tectonic structures and discriminate volcanic rocks linked to rifting within the basin using Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) imagery. Prior to advanced image processing stages, images were corrected to eliminate atmospheric scattering effects and determine the best band combination for multi-spectral processing techniques based on statistical methods. Following preprocessing stages, edge detection filters were applied to derive tectonic structures defining the basin. The Brovey transformation, a statistical data merging method, was used to combine reflective multi-spectral bands with the Landsat ETM+ panchromatic band. This method fuses higher spatial data with data of lower spatial value. The western margin of the Karasu Basin is defined by the left-lateral Amanos Fault Zone with a contemporary motion (c. -0.4 mm a(-1)) probably accommodating most of the left-lateral strike-slip motion between Arabian and African plates on the northern continuation of the Dead Sea Fault Zone. The rift zone has been the site of extensive recent volcanism concentrated within the Brunhes Chron (< 0.78 Ma) and linked to fault block rotations between the intracontinental master faults. The boundaries of this activity are defined here using a regolith mapping technique.