Advanced Applied Geology

Advanced Applied Geology

Evaluating current-day vertical deformation in the North Tehran transpressional zone using global positioning system and precise leveling data

Authors
1 PhD student, Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran
2 Dept. Of Geology-Faculty of sciences- Golestan University- GOLESTAN Prov.
3 Geodesy and Land Surveying Department , Iran National Cartographic Center, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Today, geodetic techniques play a significant role in analyzing and estimating the current-day rate of deformation in different tectonic settings of the earth. In this research, using GPS and precise leveling data, the current-day vertical deformation of the North Tehran structural zone, located in the southern central Alborz has been evaluated. The processing and analysis of the data obtained from the Iranian permanent GNSS Network (IPGN) stations shows a clear uplift throughout this structural zone. The western parts of the North Tehran structural zone have a higher uplift rate than the more eastern areas. In contrast, the loading caused by the thrust sheets in this transpressional zone has caused a significant reduction in the rate of uplift and even subsidence of the southern areas in the Tehran foreland. The time series analysis of IPGN data also indicates that the tectonic regimes, the stresses on the region and the deformations resulting from them have been changing over time, so that it can be said that the phenomenon of inversion tectonics has occurred in the region. The analysis of precise leveling data also indicates that the maximum uplift rate is observed around the main faults of the region with dominant thrust mechanism where sometimes have formed pop-up structures. The integration of GPS and precise leveling data shows that the rate of uplift from the North Tehran Fault towards the north shows a decreasing trend.
Keywords
Subjects

Agard, P., Omrani, J., Jolivet, L., Whitechurch, H., Vrielynck, B., Spakman, W., Monie, P., Meyer, B., Wortel, R., 2011. Zagros orogeny: a subduction-dominated process. Geological Magazine 148, 692–725. https://doi.org/10.1017/S001675681100046X.
Aghanabati, A., 2006. Geology of Iran, Geological Survey of Iran, P. 582.
Alavi, M., 1996. Tectonostratigraphic synthesis and structural style of the Alborz mountains system in northern
Iran. Journal of Geodynamics 21(1), 1–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/0264-3707(95)00009-7.
Allen, MB., Ghassemi, MR., Shahrabi, M., Qorashi, M., 2003. Accommodation of late Cenozoic oblique shortening in the Alborz range, northern Iran. Journal of Structural Geology 25, 659–679. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8141(02)00064-0.
Allen, MB., Jones, S., Ismail-Zadeh, A., Simmons, MD., Anderson, L., 2002. Onset of subduction as the cause of rapid Pliocene– Quaternary subsidence in the South Caspian Basin. Geology 30, 9, 775–778. https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(2002)0302.0.CO;2.
Ambraseys, NN., Melville, CP., 1982. A History of Persian Earthquakes. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press.
Amighpey, M., Voosoghi, B., Arabi, S., 2016. Modeling interseismic deformation field of North Tehran Fault extracted from precise leveling observation. Tectonophysics 679, 169–179. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2016.04.051.
Ashtari, M., Hatzfeld, D., Kamalian, N., 2005. Microseismicity in the region of Tehran. Tectonophysics 395, 193–208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2004.09.011.
Bachmanov, DM., Trifonov, VG., Hessami, K., Kozhurin, AI., Ivanova, TP., Rogozhin, EA., Hademi, MC., Jamali, FH., 2004. Active faults in the Zagros and central Iran. Tectonophysics 380, 221–241, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2003.09.021.
Ballato, P., Uba, CE., Landgraf, A., Strecker, MR., Sudo, M., Stocklin, DF., Friedrich, A., Tabatabaei, SH., 2011. Arabia-Eurasia continental collision: insights from late Tertiary foreland-basin evolution in the Alborz mountains, northern Iran. Geological Society of America Bulletin 123, 106–131. https://doi.org/10.1130/B30091.1.
Ballato, P., Nowaczyk, NR., Landgraf, A., Strecker, MR., Friedrich, A., Tabatabaei, SH., 2008. Tectonic control on sedimentary facies pattern and sediment accumulation rates in the Miocene foreland basin of the southern Alborz Mountains, northern Iran. Tectonics 27, TC6001, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008TC002278.
Ballato, P., Stockli, DF., Ghassemi, MR., Landgraf, A., Strecker, MR., Hassanzadeh, J., Friedrich, A., Tabatabaei, SH., 2013. Accommodation of transpressional strain in the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone: New constraints from (U-Th)/He thermochronology in the Alborz Mountains, north Iran. Tectonics 32, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1029/2012TC003159.
Berberian, M., Yeats, RS., 1999. Patterns of historical rupture in the Iranian Plateau. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 89, 120–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-63292-0.00016-8.
Berberian, M., Yeats, RS., 2001. Contribution of archaeological data to studies of earthquake history in the Iranian Plateau. Paul Hancock Memorial Issue: Journal of Structural Geology 23, 563–584, https://doi.org/10.1016/ S0191-8141(00)00115-2.
Berberian, M., Yeats, RS., 2016, Tehran: An earthquake time bomb. Tectonic Evolution, Collision, and Seismicity of Southwest Asia: In Honor of Manuel Berberian’s Forty-Five Years of Research Contributions. Geological Society of America Special Paper 525. https://doi.10.1130/2016.2525(04).
Berberian, M., King, GCP., 1981. Towards a paleogeography and tectonic evolution of Iran. Can. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2), 210–265. https://doi.org/10.1139/e81-019.
Berberian, M., Qorashi, M., Arzhangravesh, B., Mohajer-Ashjai, A., 1985. Recent Tectonics, Seismotectonics and Earthquake-Fault Hazard Study in the Greater Tehran Region. Geological Survey of Iran, Report no. 56, 130 [in Persian].
Brunet, M.F., Korotaev, MV., Ershov, AV., Nikishin, AM., 2003. The South Caspian Basin: a review of its evolution from subsidence modelling. Sedimentological Geology 156 (1–4), 119–148. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0037-0738(02)00285-3.
Chousianitis, K., Sboras, S., Mouslopoulou, V., Chouliaras, G., Hristopulos, DT., 2024. The upper crustal deformation field of Greece inferred from GPS data and its correlation with earthquake occurrence. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 129, e2023JB028004. https://doi.org/10.1029/ 2023JB028004.
Civiero, C., Celli, N.L., Tesauro, M., 2023. Revisiting the geodynamics of the Middle East region from an integrated geophysical perspective. Journal of Geodynamics 158, 102005. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jog.2023.102005.
Djamour, Y., Vernant, P., Bayer, R., Nankali, HR., Ritz, JF., Hinderer, J., Hatam, Y., Luck, B., LeMoigne, N., Sedighi, M., Khorrami, F., 2010. GPS and gravity constraints on continental deformation in the Alborz Mountain range, Iran. Geophysical Journal International 183, 1278-1301. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2010.04811.x.
Ehteshami-Moinabadi, M., Yassaghi, A. 2007. Geometry and kinematics of the Mosha Fault, south central Alborz Range, Iran: An example of basement-involved thrusting. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 29: 928–938. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2006.07.002.
Giménez, J., Borque, MJ., Gil, AJ., Alfaro, P., Estévez, A., Surinach, ˜ E., 2009. Comparison of long-term and short-term uplift rates along an active blind reverse fault zone (Bajo Segura, SE Spain). Studia Geophysica and Geodaetica 53, 81–98. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11200-009-0005-y.
Guest, B., Stocklin, DF., Grove, M., Axen, GJ., Lam, PS., Hassanzadeh, J., 2006. Thermal histories from the central Alborz Mountains, northern Iran: implications for the spatial and temporal distribution of deformation in northern Iran. Bulletin of geological Society of America 118, 1507–1521. https://doi.org/10.1130/B25819.1.
Haghshenas haghighi, M., Motagh, M., 2021. Land subsidence hazard in Iran revealed by country-scale analysis of sentinel-1 InSAR. The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences XLIII-B3-2021, XXIV ISPRS Congress. https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLIII-B3-2021-155-2021.
Hassanzadeh, J., Wernicke, BP., 2016. The Neo-Tethyan Sanandaj-Sirjan zone of Iran as an archetype for passive margin-arc transitions. Tectonics 35, 586–621. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015TC003926.
Hatzfeld, D., Molnar, P., 2010. Comparisons of the kinematics and deep structures of the Zagros and Himalaya and of the Iranian and Tibetan plateaus and geodynamic implications. Rev. Geophysics 48. https://doi.org/10.1029/2009RG000304.
Hollingsworth, J., 2007. Active Tectonics of NE Iran. PhD thesis, University of Cambridge 220.
Honarmand, M., Boon, A., Neubauer, F., Heberer, B., Li, Q., Kuiper, KF., Mason, PRD., Krijgsman, W., 2024. Geochemical constraints on the geodynamic setting of Alborz-Azerbaijan Cenozoic magmatism. Chemical Geology 645,121889. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2023.121889.
Horton, BK., Hassanzadeh, J., Stockli, DF., Axen, GJ., Gillis, RJ., Guest, B., Amini, A., Fakhari, MD., Zamanzadeh, S.M., 2008. Detrital zircon provenance of Neoproterozoic to Cenozoic deposits in Iran: Implications for chronostratigraphy and collisional tectonics. Tectonophysics 451, 97–122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2007.11.063.
Jackson, J., Priestly, K., Allen, MB. Berberian, M., 2002. Active tectonics of the South Caspian Basin, Geophysical Journal International 190, 1311–1324. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-246X.2002.01588.x.
Jesus Galindo-Zaldívar, Maria Jesus Borquec, Antonio Pedrera, Carlos Marín-Lechado, Antonio José Gil, Angel Carlos López-Garrido, 2013. Deformation behaviour of the low-rate active Balanegra Fault Zone from high-precision levelling (Betic Cordillera, SE Spain). Journal of Geodynamics 71, 43–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jog.2013.07.003.
Jianliang Nie, Jie Tian, Xinwei Guo, Bin Wang, Xiaoyun Liu, Yaxuan Cheng, 2023. Pengtao Jiao, Vertical deformation analysis based on combined adjustment for GNSS and leveling data. Geodesy and Geodynamics 14, 5, 477-484, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geog.2023.03.003.
Khorrami, F., Vernant, P., Masson, F., Nilfouroushan, F., Mousavi, Z., Nankali, H., Saadat, SA., Walpersdorf, A., Hosseini, S., Tavakoli, P., Aghamohammadi, A., Alijanzade, M., 2019. An up-to-date crustal deformation map of Iran using integrated campaign-mode and permanent GPS velocities. Geophysical Journal International 217 (2), 832–843. https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggz045.
Landgraf, A., Ballato, P., Strecker, MR., Friedrich, A., Tabatabaei, SH. Shahpasandzadeh, M., 2009. Fault-kinematic and geomorphic observations along the North Tehran Thrust and Mosha-Fasham Fault, Alborz mountains, Iran: implications for fault-system evolution and interaction in a changing tectonic regime. Geophysical Journal International 177, 676–690. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04089.x.
Landgraf, A., Zielke, O., Arrowsmith, JR., Ballato, P., Strecker, MR., Schildgen, TF., Friedrich, AM., Tabatabaei, SH., 2013. Differentiating simple and composite tectonic landscapes using numerical fault slip modeling with an example from the south-central Alborz Mountains, Iran. Journal of. Geophysical Research of Earth Surface 118, 1792–1805.
Maddahi, H., Rahimi, A., Amighpey, M., 2022. Present-day deformation analysis of north Tehran structural zone by using precise leveling data, 2nd national biennial conference on geology of the Alborz Orogen and Caspian Sea, Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran, (in Persian).
Maddahi, H., Rahimi, A., Amighpey, M., 2022. Present-day deformation analysis of north Tehran structural zone by using precise leveling data, 2nd national biennial conference on geology of the Alborz Orogen and Caspian Sea, Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran, (in Persian).
Maddahi, H., Rahimi, A., Amighpey, M., 2024. Structural model of Mosha-North Tehran fault system, Southern flank of central Alborz, Tectonics Journal 24, 39-55 (in Persian). https://doi.org/10.22077/jt.2024.6800.1164.
Mahmoudpour, M., Khamehchiyan, M., Nikudel, MR., Ghassemi, MR., 2013. Characterization of regional land subsidence induced by groundwater withdrawals in Tehran, Iran, Geopersia 3 (2), 49-62. https://doi.org/10.22059/JGEOPE.2013.36014.
Marín-Lechado, C., Galindo-Zaldívar, J., Gil, AJ., Borque, MJ., de Lacy, C., Pedrera, A., López-Garrido, AC., Alfaro, P., García-Tortosa, F., Ramos, I., Rodríguez-Caderot, G., Rodríguez-Fernández, J., Ruiz-Constán, A., Sanz de Galdeano-Equiza, C., 2010. Levelling profiles and a GPS network to monitor the active folding and faulting deformation in the Campo de Dalias (Betic Cordillera, Southeastern Spain). Sensors 10, 3504–3518. https://doi.org/10.3390/s100403504.
McKenzie, D., 2020. The structure of the lithosphere and upper mantle beneath the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. Mediterr. Geoscience Revision 2, 311–326. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42990-020-00038-1.
McQuarrie, N., Van Hinsbergen, D., 2013. Retrodeforming the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone: age of collision versus magnitude of continental subduction. Geology 41 (3), 315–318. https://doi.org/10.1130/G33591.1.
Min Wang, Zheng-Kang Shen, 2020. Present‐day crustal deformation of continental China derived from GPS and its tectonic implications. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 125, e2019JB018774. https://doi.org/ 10.1029/2019JB018774.
Mohammadi Nia, A., Rashidi, A., Khatib, MM., Mousavi, SM., Nemati, M., Shafieibafti, S., Derakhshani, R., 2023. Seismic risk in alborz: insights from geological moment rate estimation and fault activity analysis Applied Sciences 13 (10), 6236. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13106236.
Nilforoushan, F., Masson, F., Vernant, P., Vigny, C., Martinod, J., Abbassi, M., Nankali, H., Hatzfeld, D., Bayer, R., Tavakoli, F., Ashtiani, A., Doerflinger, E., Daignieres, M., Collard, P., Chery, J., 2003. GPS network monitors the Arabia-Eurasia collision deformation in Iran. Journal of Geodesy 77, 411–422. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-003 -0326-5.
Pan, Y., Hammond, WC., Ding, H., Mallick, R., Jiang, W., Xu, X., 2021. GPS imaging of vertical bedrock displacements: Quantification of two-dimensional vertical crustal deformation in China. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 126, e2020JB020951. https://doi. org/10.1029/2020JB020951.
Pluijm and Marshak, 2004, Earth structure: an introduction to structural geology and tectonics. Second Edition, ISBN 0-393-92467-X, p 656.
Raeesi, M., Zarifi, Z., Nilfouroushan, F., Boroujeni, S. Tiampo, K., 2017. Quantitative analysis of seismicity in Iran. Pure applied Geophysics 174, 793–833. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-016-1435-4.
Rashidi, A., Derakhshani, R., 2022. Strain and moment rates from GPS and seismological data in Northern Iran: implications for an evaluation of stress trajectories and probabilistic fault rupture hazard. Remote Sensing (Basel) 14 (9), 2219. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14092219.
Rashidi, A., Nemati, M., Shafieibafti, Sh., Pourbeyranvand, Sh., Derakhshani, R., Braitenberg, C., 2023. Structure and kinematics of active faulting in the northern domain of Western and Central Alborz, Iran and interpretation in terms of tectonic evolution of the region. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 255, 105760. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2023.105760.
Ritz, JF., Nazari, H., Balescu, S., Lamothe, M., Salamati, R., Chassemi, A., Shafei, A., Ghorashi, M., Saidi, A., 2012, Paleoearthquakes of the past 30,000 years along the North Tehran fault (Iran). Journal of Geophysical Research 117, no. B6, B06305. https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JB009147.
Ritz, J.F., Nazari, H., Ghassemi, A., Salamati, R., Shafeii, A., Solaymani, S., Vernant, P., 2006. Active transtension inside Central Alborz: a new insight into the Northern Iran–Southern Caspian geodynamics. Geology 34, 477–480. https://doi.org/10.1130/G22319.1.
Sengor, A.M., 1979. Mid-Mesozoic closure of Permo-Triassic Tethys and its implications. Nature 279, 590–593. https://doi.org/10.1038/279590a0.
Solaymani Azad, S., Ritz, JF., Abbasi, MR., 2011. Left-lateral active deformation along the Mosha–North Tehran fault system (Iran); morphotectonics and paleoseismological investigations. Tectonophysics 497, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2010.09.013.
Stöcklin, J., 1974. Northern Iran: Alborz Mountains, In: Spencer, A., (Ed.), Mesozoic–Cenozoic orogenic belts: data for orogenic studies. Geological Society Special Publication 4, 213-234. ISBN: 0707300479, 9780707300474
Talebian, M., Copley, AC., Fattahi, M., Ghorashi, M., Jackson, JA., Nazari, H., Sloan, RA., Walker, RT., 2016. Active faulting within a megacity: the geometry and slip rate of the Pardisan thrust in central Tehran, Iran. Geophysical Journal International 207 (3), 1688–1699. https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggw347.
Talebian, M., Jackson, J., 2004. A reappraisal of earthquake focal mechanisms and active shortening in the Zagros Mountains of Iran. Geophysical Journal International 156, 506–526. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2004.02092.x.
Tatar, M., Hatzfeld, D., Abbassi, M., Yamini Fard, F., 2012. Microseismicity and seismotectonics around the Mosha fault (central Alborz, Iran). Tectonophysics 544–545, 50–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2012.03.033.
Tatar, M., Jackson, J., Hatzfeld, D., Bergman, E., 2007. The 28 May 2004 Baladeh earthquake (Mw 6.2) in the Alborz, Iran, implications for the geology of the South Caspian Basin margin and for the seismic hazard of Tehran. Geophysical Journal International 170, 249–261. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2007.03386.x.
Tchalenko, JS., Berberian, M., Iranmanesh, H., Baily, M., Arsovsky, M., 1974, Tectonic framework of the Tehran Region, in Materials for the Study of Seismotectonics of Iran; North-Central Iran: Tehran. Geological Survey of Iran, Report no. 29, 7–46.
Teknik, V., Ghods A., 2017, Depth of magnetic basement in Iran based on fractal spectral analysis of aeromagnetic data, Geophysical Journal International 209, 1878–1891. https://doi: 10.1093/gji/ggx132
Trifonov, VG., Hessami, K., Popov, SV., Zelenin, EA., Trikhunkov, Ya. I., Frolov, PD., Golovina, LA., Simakova, A. N., Rashidi, A., Latyshev, A. V., 2022. Development of the Southern coastal area of the Caspian Sea during the pliocene–quaternary according to biostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic data. Stratigraphy and Geological Correlation 30(4), 273–291. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0869593822040074.
Verdel, C., Wernicke, BP., Hassanzadeh, J., Guest, B., 2011. A Paleogene extensional arc flare -up in Iran. Tectonics 30. https://doi.org/10.1029/2010TC002809. TC3008.
Vernant, P., Nilforoushan, F., Chery, J., Bayer, R., Djamour, Y., Masson, F., Nankali, H., Ritz, JF., Sedighi, M., Tavakoli, F., 2004. Deciphering oblique shortening of central Alborz in Iran using geodetic data. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett 223, 177–185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2004.04.017.
Yanqiang Wu, Zhijiang Zheng, Jianliang Nie, Liu Chang, Guangli Su, Haiquan Yin, Hongbao Liang, Yajin Pang, Changyun Chen, Zaisen Jiang, Wanju Bo, 2022. High-Precision Vertical Movement and Three-Dimensional Deformation Pattern of the Tibetan Plateau. JGR Solid Earth 127, 4, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JB023202.
Yassaghi, A., 2001. Inversion tectonics in the Central Alborz Range. European Union of Geosciences (EUG XI) 335. Abstract. Symposium LS05.
Yassaghi, A., Madanipour, S., 2008. Influence of a transverse basement fault on along-strike variations in the geometry of an inverted normal fault: Case study of the Mosha fault, central Alborz range, Iran. Journal of Structural Geology 30, 1507–1519. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2008.08.006.
Yassaghi, A., Naeimi, A., 2011. Structural analysis of the Gachsar subzone in central Alborz range; constrain for inversion tectonics followed by the range transverse faulting. International Journal of Earth Sciences 100 (6), 1237–1249. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-010-0537-y.
Zanchi, A., Berra, F., Mattei, M., Ghassemi., MR., Sabouri, J. 2006. Inversion tectonics in central Alborz, Iran. Journal of Structural Geology 28: 2023– 2037. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2006.06.020.
Zanchi, A., Zanchetta, S., Berra, F., Mattei, M., Garzanti, E., Molyneux, S., Nawab, A., Sabouri, J., 2009. The Eo-Cimmerian (Late? Triassic) orogeny in North Iran. In: Brunet, M.F., Wilmsen, M., Granath, J. (Eds.), South Caspian to Central Iran Basins. Geological Society London, Special Publication 312, 31–55. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP312.3.