Anatolian Plate in the context of "Latakia Ridge"

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⭐ Core Definition: Anatolian Plate

The Anatolian plate is a continental tectonic plate lying under Asiatic part of Turkey, known as Anatolia. Most of the country of Turkey is located on the Anatolian plate. The plate is separated from the Eurasian plate and the Arabian plate by the North Anatolian Fault and the East Anatolian Fault respectively. According to the American Museum of Natural History, the Anatolian transform fault system is "probably the most active in the world".

Most significant earthquakes in the region have historically occurred along the northern fault, such as the 1939 Erzincan earthquake. The northern edge is a transform boundary with the Eurasian plate, forming the North Anatolian Fault zone (NAFZ). The East Anatolian Fault, a left lateral transform fault, forms a boundary with the Arabian plate. The devastating 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes occurred along the active East Anatolian Fault at a strike-slip fault where the Arabian plate is sliding past the Anatolian plate horizontally.

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👉 Anatolian Plate in the context of Latakia Ridge

The Latakia Ridge is a major underwater formation extending over 200 km along the northern margin of the Levantine Basin, marking the plate boundary between the African Plate and the Anatolian Plate. Rising up to 500 metres above the surrounding seafloor, it forms the easternmost segment of the Cyprus Arc, connecting the Hecataeus Rise south of Cyprus with a series of ridges off the Syrian coast. The ridge first developed in the mid-Late Cretaceous as a compressional fold-thrust belt, and was later reworked by left-lateral strike-slip motion from the Pliocene to the present. Exploration has revealed significant hydrocarbon potential in the region, with seismic images suggesting large gas accumulations trapped beneath the thrust faults.

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Anatolian Plate in the context of Cyprus Arc

The Cyprus Arc is a curved plate boundary zone in the Eastern Mediterranean extending from the eastern edge of the Hellenic arc to the triple junction of the Anatolian Plate, Arabian Plate and African Plate. Unlike simpler plate margins, the Cyprus Arc accommodates simultaneous compression, extension and strike-slip movements along different segments, reflecting the complex interaction of three major plates. The arc is linked into the Latakia Ridge to the west via the East Anatolian Fault (EAF).

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Anatolian Plate in the context of Mediterranean Ridge

The Mediterranean Ridge is a wide ridge in the bed of the Mediterranean Sea, running along a rough quarter circle from Calabria, south of Crete, to the southwest corner of Turkey.

It is an accretionary wedge caused by the African Plate subducting under the Eurasian and Anatolian plates. As the African Plate moves slowly north-northeastward, the sedimentary rocks covering the Mediterranean seafloor are being affected by active shortening, involving both thrust faulting and folding, lifting them up and forming the ridge.

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