A review of the tectonics of the aegean region

Abstract

The Aegean region is a remarkably deforming part of the Alpine-Himalayan orogenic belt, which has the highest seismic activity in Europe. An extensional deformation regime has led to subsidence of the continental crust over all the Aegean region behind the south Aegean consumption boundary. The region that is mainly under pure shear stress is an internally deforming part of the counterclockwise rotating (relative to Eurasia) Anatolian plate. To understand the tectonics and dynamic evolution of the region many geoscientists have collected numerous data and interpreted them. In the present study, all available data have been compiled into a unique database. For this purpose, as a first step, raw and processed information have been compiled and classified with their sources, date information and criticism of their accuracy and limitations. This step allows the comparison of similar types of study and data in order to· understand basic problems more clearly. As the second step, all interpretations of the studies are discussed and critically reviewed by considering associated data and methodology on a regional scale. The goal of the work is to determine the problems with highest priority, find the gaps in the database.