Interseismic Displacement Field along the Grabens of West Anatolia.

M. Arikan and R.F. Hanssen


West Anatolia is geologically characterized by neotectonic structures
caused by a continental extension. This extension is driven by the
westward tectonic escape of Anatolia due to the collision of the
Arabian and African plates with the Eurasian plate, making it one of
the most intensively deforming regions of the world. This extensional
deformation forms a horst-graben morphology which is controlled by
oblique-slip normal faults. The region extends with an amount of circa
25-30 mm/yr in NE-SW direction as determined by sparse GPS network
measurements.  Current GPS station coverage does not contain enough
detailed information to determine displacement field along the grabens
and associated fault systems.

Here we present the first results of interseismic displacement field
as observed using the full acquisition archive of ERS Synthetic
Aperture Radar (SAR) sensor between 1992 and 2001. Using Persistent
Scatterer Interferometry technique (PSI) and time series of SAR
images, we overcome the unfavorable decorrelation factors in order to
monitor and map kinematic pattern of deformation along the grabens
over the region.