GEODINAMICA ACTA, vol.14, pp.177-195, 2001 (SCI-Expanded)
The east Anatolian plateau and the Lesser Caucasus are characterised and shaped by three major structures: (1) NW-and NE-trending dextral to sinistral active strike-slip faults, (2) N-S to NNW-trending fissures and /or Plio-Quaternary volcanoes, and (3) a 5-km thick, undeformed Plio-Quaternary continental volcanosedimentary sequence accumulated in Various strike-slip basins. In contrast to the situation in the east Anatolian plateau and the Lesser Caucasus, the Transcaucasus and the Great Caucasus are characterised by WNW-trending active thrust to reverse faults, folds, and 6-km thick, undeformed (except for the fault-bounded basin margins) continuous Oligocene-Quaternary molassic sequence accumulated in actively developing ramp basins. Hence, the neotectonic regime in the Great Caucasus and the Transcaucasus is compressional-contractional, and Oligocene-Quaternary in age; whereas it is compressional-extensional, and Plio-Quaternary in age in the east Anatolian plateau and the Lesser Caucasus.