Université de Fribourg

Geodynamics, seismicity, and seismic hazards of the Caucasus

Ismail-Zadeh, Alik ; Adamia, Shota ; Chabukiani, Aleksandre ; Chelidze, Tamaz ; Cloetingh, Sierd ; Floyd, Michael ; Gorshkov, Alexander ; Gvishiani, Alexei ; Ismail-Zadeh, Tahir ; Kabanh, Mikhail K. ; Kadirov, Fakhraddin ; Karapetyan, Jon ; Kangarli, Talat ; Kiria, Jemal ; Koulakov, Ivan ; Mosar, Jon ; Mumladze, Tea ; Müller, Birgit ; Sadradze, Nino ; Safarov, Rafig ; Schilling, Frank ; Soloviev, Alexander

In: Earth-Science Reviews, 2020, vol. 207, p. 103222

Being a part of ongoing continental collision between the Arabian and Eurasian plates, the Caucasus region is a remarkable site of moderate to strong seismicity, where devastating earthquakes caused significant losses of lives and livelihood. In this article, we survey geology and geodynamics of the Caucasus and its surroundings; magmatism and heat flow; active tectonics and tectonic stresses...

Université de Fribourg

The eastern Black Sea-Caucasus region during the Cretaceous: New evidence to constrain its tectonic evolution

Sosson, Marc ; Stephenson, Randell ; Sheremet, Yevgeniya ; Rolland, Yann ; Adamia, Shota ; Melkonian, Rafael ; Kangarli, Talat ; Yegorova, Tamara ; Avagyan, Ara ; Galoyan, Ghazar ; Danelian, Taniel ; Hässig, Marc ; Meijers, Maud ; Müller, Carla ; Sahakyan, Lilit ; Sadradze, Nino ; Alania, Victor ; Enukidze, Onice ; Mosar, Jon

In: Comptes Rendus Geoscience, 2016, vol. 348, no. 1, p. 23–32

We report new observations in the eastern Black Sea-Caucasus region that allow reconstructing the evolution of the Neotethys in the Cretaceous. At that time, the Neotethys oceanic plate was subducting northward below the continental Eurasia plate. Based on the analysis of the obducted ophiolites that crop out throughout Lesser Caucasus and East Anatolides, we show that a spreading center...

Université de Fribourg

Subductions, obduction and collision in the Lesser Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia), new insights

Sosson, M. ; Rolland, Y. ; Müller, C. ; Danelian, T. ; Melkonyan, R. ; Kekelia, S. ; Adamia, S. ; Babazadeh, V. ; Kangarli, Talat ; Avagyan, A. ; Galoyan, G. ; Mosar, Jon

In: Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2010, vol. 340, p. 329-352

In the Lesser Caucasus three main domains are distinguished from SW to NE: (1) the autochthonous South Armenian Block (SAB), a Gondwana-derived terrane; (2) the ophiolitic Sevan–Akera suture zone; and (3) the Eurasian plate. Based on our field work, new stratigraphical, petrological, geochemical and geochronological data combined with previous data we present new insights on the subduction,...

Université de Fribourg

Cenozoic-Recent tectonics and uplift in the Greater Caucasus: a perspective from Azerbaijan

Mosar, Jon ; Kangarli, Talat ; Bochud, Martin ; Glasmacher, Ulrich A. ; Rast, Annick ; Brunet, Marie-Francoise ; Sosson, Marc

In: Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2010, vol. 340, p. 261-280

The Greater Caucasus is Europe's highest mountain belt and results from the inversion of the Greater Caucasus back-arc-type basin due to the collision of Arabia and Eurasia. The orogenic processes that led to the present mountain chain started in the Early Cenozoic, accelerated during the Plio-Pleistocene, and are still active as shown from present GPS studies and earthquake distribution. The...

Université de Fribourg

Subsidence and uplift mechanisms within the South Caspian Basin: insights from the onshore and offshore Azerbaijan region

Egan, Stuart S. ; Mosar, Jon ; Brunet, Marie-Françoise ; Kangarli, Talat

In: Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2009, vol. 312, p. 219-240

A combination of fieldwork, basin analysis and modelling techniques has been used to try and understand the role, as well as the timing, of the subsidence–uplift mechanisms that have affected the Azerbaijan region of the South Caspian Basin (SCB) from Mesozoic to Recent.Key outcrops have been studied in the eastern Greater Caucasus, and the region has been divided into several major tectonic...