Sea bottom features of eastern İzmit Bay and entrance zone of the North Anatolian Fault in the northeastern Marmara Sea

Vedat Ediger, Ali Cankurtaranlar, Onur Akyol

ORCID IDs: V.E. 0000-0003-4388-7951; A.C. 0000-0002-6044-5111; O.A. 0000-0003-3956-1449

TÜBİTAK MAM Earth and Marine Sciences Institute, P.O. Box 21, 41470 Gebze, Kocaeli, TURKEY
TÜBİTAK MAM Environment and Cleaner Production Institute, P.O. Box 21, 41470, Gebze, Kocaeli, TURKEY

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the North Anatolian Fault (NAF) entrance into Izmit Bay. Upper Quaternary submarine features (gas seeps, gas bearing sediments, pockmarks, mud volcanos, sediment structures and faults) and alongation of the NAF from land to İzmit Bay are investigated by using water depth data, high-resolution shallow seismic profiles, side scan sonar images, and borehole logs. The presence of acoustic anomalies in the Late Quaternary sequences was observed intensely and these anomalies were interpreted as gas bearing sediments. As a result of earthquakes and / or mass movements, the amount of buried gas accumulated along the sediment column may have increased or displaced. In this study, five different gas bearing layers are classified and their distribution patterns are mapped. It has been determined that the active faults in the region that shaped the coastal zone and sea floor morphology of the İzmit Bay are in two different groups. The first group consists of right-lateral strike-slip faults that run along the north and south slopes of the east depression and are in the east-west direction. The secondary group of faults have normal fault characteristics. These secondary faults are parallel to the depth contour lines of the deltas.

Keywords: Late-Quaternary, shallow seismic, side scan sonar, gas bearing sediments, pockmark, mud volcano

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