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Cycle 3 (2014 Deadline) Active geodynamics of the Caucasus region PI: Tea Godoladze ( earthscience@iliauni.edu.ge), Ilia State University, with co-PIs Arkadi Karakhanyan (deceased, November 2017), Institute of Geological Sciences, Armenian Academy of Sciences; and Fakhraddin Abulfat oglu Kadirov ( kadirovf@gmail.com), Institute of Geology, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences U.S. Partner: Robert Reilinger, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Project Dates: September 2014 to May 2017 Project Overview
Continental collisions are a fundamental part of the Wilson Cycle and play a significant role in the evolution of the Earth. They have particular societal importance, as historically the most destructive earthquakes in terms of the loss of life and property have occurred along continental collision zones and the associated zones of lithospheric translation. Only two active continent-continent collisions occur today: India-Eurasia and Arabia-Eurasia (AR-EU). Because of its young age, limited spatial extent, and less than 20 years of geodetic studies, the AR-EU continental collision zone offers the opportunity to determine the detailed kinematics of active deformation for the entire region of plate interaction, from the stable Arabian Plate in the south to the stable Eurasian Plate in the north. The Greater Caucasus is primarily a fold and thrust belt and represents the northern extent of the deformation between the Arabian and Eurasian plates. The region is tectonically and structurally complex, and it is possible to observe earthquakes with the magnitude of 7 in the region. Quantifying the distribution of crustal strain within the collision zone, which is a principal objective of this research project, is important both for clarifying our understanding of the dynamics of continental deformation and for developing an improved physical basis for estimating and mitigating earthquake hazards in this rapidly developing region.
The research team will use the available GPS data throughout the collision zone obtained throughout the Caucasus region, enhance the existed GPS network by means of installing new permanent stations, and perform trans-section GPS surveys from the western part of the Caucasus Mountains to the very eastern edge of the main Caucasus thrust. This effort will utilize and build upon a new GPS velocity field (1994-2012), including all GPS sites of the Caucasus countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia) and further constrained by geodetic observations available in Turkey, the northern part of the Arabian Plate, the northern Caucasus in Russia, and Iran. The research study will provide new constraints on the convergence across the Greater Caucasus (spatial distribution of active faults and their associated slip rates and locking depths) from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, and the faulting and block rotation in the Lesser Caucasus. The Institute of Geology of Armenia, the Institute of Geology of Azerbaijan, the Institute of Earth Sciences at Ilia State University of Georgia, and the U.S. partner institution MIT will conduct geodetic monitoring and enhance capabilities in data analysis, modeling, and interpretation. The U.S. partner’s institute will assist the research team in network design, monumentation, and will conduct in-country workshops on data reduction, analysis, and kinematic modelling. Capacity building in the developing nations in the Caucasus region is of primary interest among the nations and is a major objective of this multilateral collaboration, as it is necessary to assure the improved future geodetic control to constrain better earthquake hazards in this highly active and vulnerable region. Broader impacts of this international collaboration-driven research study between the Armenian, Azerbaijan, and Georgian and U.S. counterparts include technology transfer through in-country workshops, dissemination of information for estimating earthquake hazards (strain rates, fault locking depths), enhanced geodetic infrastructure, and institutional capabilities which will also assure continued and improved geodetic observations in the future.
Final Summary of Project Activities
As a result of their work with PEER support, the project team further developed the Global Navigation Satellite System in Georgia, installing 7 new permanent GPS stations and 51 new benchmarks, covering almost all the central part of the Caucasus region. The GPS data will help characterize active faults of the region and serve as an input for Georgia’s national seismic hazard maps.
The PI Dr. Godoladze was also part of teams awarded three new related grants, worth more than $300,000 USD in total, from the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. National Science Foundation, and the Georgian Science Foundation. The grants involve further research on seismic hazard assessment in the Caucasus and Rapid Moment Tensor solutions.
The project also included cross-regional collaboration with the Institute of Geology of Armenia, the Institute of Geology of Azerbaijan, and the Institute of Earth Sciences at Ilia State University of Georgia, along with U.S. partner institution MIT to conduct geodetic monitoring and enhance researchers’ capabilities in data analysis, modeling, and interpretation.
In addition to ongoing research grants, the PEER team developed a productive collaboration with Kandili Observatory in Turkey and expects to conduct a joint field survey with them in the future. The team conducted a workshop to discuss their results, hosting scientists and students from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Taiwan, and Russia, and a member of the project team presented a poster at AGU’s Fall Meeting in 2016.
Publications
Lin, C.‐M., Tseng, T.‐L., Meliksetian, K., Karakhanyan, A., Huang, B.‐S., Babayan, H., Hu, J-C., Gevorgyan, M., Chang, S-F., and Levonyan, A. 2020. Locally thin crust and high crustal VP/VS ratio beneath the Armenian volcanic highland of the Lesser Caucasus: A case for recent delamination. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 125, e2019JB019151. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JB019151
Sokhadze, G., M. Floyd, T. Godoladze, R. King, E. S. Cowgill, Z. Javakhishvili, G. Hahubia, and R. Reilinger. 2018. Active convergence between the Lesser and Greater Caucasus in Georgia: Constraints on the tectonic evolution of the Lesser–Greater Caucasus continental collision. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 481 (2018): 154-161.
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