Research Information System
GEOLOGY, vol.54, no.3, pp.200-204, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
Reliable knowledge of the crustal properties beneath the North Anatolian fault (NAF), seismically silent for more than 250 years beneath the Marmara Sea (MS), is crucial for un-derstanding seismic hazard and mitigating the potential for disaster on an enormous scale. In the present work, the first three-dimensional inverse modeling performed on a magneto-telluric dataset of the MS has unveiled localized weak and locked fault segments along this shear deformation zone. Low-resistivity regions along the northern branch of the NAF be-neath the Central and & Ccedil;& imath;narc & imath;k-Imral & imath; basins are likely attributed to the presence of fluids, which may represent a fault zone conductor in a fractured zone and can explain the densely populated microseismicity. These low-resistivity anomalies surrounded by higher resistivity structures imply that the segmented, multi-branched NAF system extends beneath the MS, following the Intra-Pontide suture zone. The resistive anomalies, between the Central and & Ccedil;& imath;narc & imath;k basins, along with those at the western and eastern extremities of the MS, presum-ably signify regions of stress accumulation, shedding light on the ongoing processes of fault mechanics at play in this critical region.