Morphological and tectonic evidences of active faulting around and along the North Tabriz Fault zone, northwestern Iran

The North Tabriz right-lateral strike-slip fault zone is a major seismogenic structure in northwestern Iran. In this paper, we describe some of the characteristics of strike-slip faulting in the southern and northern parts of this fault zone. Left-stepping en echelon pattern in northern part of the North Tabriz Fault and horsetail splay and negative flower structures in southern part are inferred from geometric and geomorphic analysis. Plenty of small and meso-scale conjugate normal faults indicate local tensional field in many places in between fault segments. The South Tabriz Fault and North Tabriz Fault in Tabriz region of northwestern Iran seems to have interactions, so that the likely movement in one fault will lead to movement in other fault.

Keywords:

North Tabriz Fault , Faults interaction , Seismogenic structure , Northwestern Iran , en echelon pattern