Project Details
Projekt
Collision to Subduction: from the Dinarides-Hellenides Junction to the ocean-continent transition at the Kefalonia Transform Fault System - a rolling Large-N experiment
Applicants
Dr. Beth Kahle; Professor Dr. Andreas Rietbrock; Dr. Bernd Schurr; Professor Dr. Frederik Tilmann
Subject Area
Geophysics
Term
since 2025
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 560303125
The eastern margin of the Adriatic plate is a region of high seismic hazard. Observations of earthquakes and surface faulting reveal a complex array of focal mechanisms, fault orientations and slip vectors over a broad area of distributed deformation. The sources of stress that drive surface deformation are also poorly constrained: subduction/collision dynamics, in particular the change from continental collision to oceanic subduction along the Kefalonia Transform Fault Zone (KTFZ), likely exert a profound influence, but contributions from topographic contrasts (gravitational potential energy) are also significant. We propose the deployment of a high density mobile seismic network consisting of ~400 geophones and 50 broadband stations, which will allow for imaging of crustal and upper mantle structures, velocities and seismicity at high resolution. Careful separation of faulting styles and a comparison between surface expression, present-day seismic activity, and seismic velocity structure will aid in understanding the kinematic evolution of the region as well as provide insights into the controlling forces, thus addressing both themes 1 and 2 of the SPP DEFORM. The information on faulting geometries and activity together with the high resolution model of elastic properties will provide constraints on dynamic models of the region and are a prerequisite of physical dynamic rupture models for large earthquake scenarios in a second phase of the SPP.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
