Tectonic Plates and Faults - Earthquake Engineering for Structural Design - page 174

174 Earthquake Engineering for Structural Design

Figure 5.31 Alpine-Himalayan Belt (USGS, nd)

Azores-Maghrebian segment starts from the Azores triple junction among the
North American, Eurasian and African plates. The first part, The East Azores fault
is a transverse one, followed by the subduction fault. The Maghrebian fault is again
a subduction fault between African and Eurasian plates, crossing the continental
zone of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
Calabrian and Hellenic Arcs. The Calabrian Arc is at the South of Italy (Sicily
and Calabria) and the Albanian coast is continuous with the Hellenic Arc situated
at the South of Crete and Cyprus Isles. These faults are due to the subduction of the
African plate under the Eurasian one.
Anatolian segment. Anatolia is a well-known earthquake-prone region, being
crossed by the East Anatolian fault (continuation of the Cyprus fault), the West
Anatolian fault (continuation of the Crete fault), the North and the Northeast
Anatolian faults. These faults are characterized by transverse type due to the
movements in different directions of both Anatolian and Eurasian plates.
Arabian segment movement dominates the Eastern Mediterranean region. The
1000 km long Red Sea is a divergent boundary between African and Arabian
plates. The contact of the Arabian plate with the Eurasian plate at the North and
Northeast is composed by subduction faults. In the Southeastern part, the Arabian
plate is in contact with the Indo-Australian plate forming a transverse boundary.
Zagros-Makran segment (South Iran and Pakistan) is produced by the
subduction of the Indian plate beneath the Southern Eurasian plate.
Himalayan segment is dominated by the collision and subduction of the Indo-
Australian plate beneath the Eurasian plate, forming the Himalayan Mountains.