Right-Lateral Strike-Slip Faulting and Related Basin Formations in the Turkish–Iranian Plateau

The Turkish–Iranian Plateau has an active tectonic deformation pattern including various tectonic structures (i.e., faults, thrusts, fissures) in various orientations. Regarding the origin of deformation in the plateau region, a roughly north–south directed shortening resulting from collision between the Arabian and Eurasian plates and their following convergence has suggested. However, statistical distributions of the structures according to their geometric and kinematic features indicate that dominant structural elements in the region are represented by northwest-trending right-lateral faults. This study mostly focuses on the geometric, geomorphic, and structural features of right-lateral faults located in eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and northwestern Iran and discusses the spatial variation of shearing in the plateau caused by oblique convergence between the Arabian and Eurasian plates. In addition, Quaternary basin development processes in most of the region are mainly related to geometric irregularities along the right-lateral faults in the region and/or kinematic interactions among them.