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Journal of the Geological Society; 2006; v. 163; issue.1; p. 143-148;
DOI: 10.1144/0016-764905-031
© 2006 Geological Society of London

Original Article

Active deformation within the Zagros Mountains deduced from GPS measurements

Khaled Hessami1,2, Faramarz Nilforoushan1,3 & Christopher J. Talbot1

1 Hans Ramberg Tectonic Laboratory, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
2 International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology, PO Box 19395/3913, Tehran, Iran (e-mail: hessami@iiees.ac.ir)
3 Research Institute of National Cartographic Center (RINCC), PO Box 13185-1684, Tehran, Iran

We present and interpret the results of Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements at 35 stations in and beside the Zagros Mountain belt, SW Iran, for three campaigns ending March 1998, December 1999 and June 2001. Preliminary motion estimates show clearly the change in character along the strike of the belt. Stations to the SE move at 13–22 ± 3 mm a–1 towards N 7 ± 5°E with respect to Eurasia. Most of the shortening indicated by the GPS velocities seems to occur in the SE Zagros along two major seismic zones and along the Zagros front. To the NW, stations move oblique to the trend of the belt towards N 12 ± 8°W, at 14–19 ± 3 mm a–1. Most of the shortening in the NW Zagros seems to occur along the Mountain Front Fault with its major earthquakes as well as along the Zagros front. The change in direction and magnitude of the velocity vectors across the north–south-trending Kazerun and Karebas faults involves extension of up to 4 mm a–1 along the strike of the Zagros belt.