Shallow crust structure of the Buyuk Menderes graben through an analysis of gravity data

Abstract

The Buyuk Menderes is one of the most important geostructural features of highly seismically active western Anatolia, Turkey. This article aims to analyze the geological features and the shallow crust structure of the Buyuk Menderes graben. To achieve this, six different edge detection filters and a 3D inversion method were applied to the Bouguer gravity data to detect new lineaments and shallow crust topographies. A renewed fault map of the Buyuk Menderes graben is the significant contribution of the present study. New lineaments were detected in the western, southeastern, and northern parts of the region, where intense seismicity was observed. The basement, the upper-lower crust undulation, and their relations were analyzed in detail. The maximum sediment thickness was defined as 4.1 km. 'I he subsurface depths are increasing in N-S and W-E directions. The new determined lineaments may be a topic of future research to warrant attention.