Abstract:

The lineaments in the area between Palu (Elazığ)-Pütürge (Malatya) on the East Anatolian Fault System (EAFS) were extracted by using automatic methods from Landsat (4-5) TM satellite image. Artificial and/or natural lineaments, which were not formed by the help of geological effects, were eliminated. Within the study area, a total of 101 geological lineaments were defined and rose diagram prepared. According to the rose diagram, the main orientations of the faults were determined as N750E with total of 1.286,879 km long. A rose diagram is interpreted taking into account the tectonic evolution of the region. In this regard, two main geological lineaments directions of N550E and N850E were determined in the study area. In this data, N850E directed lineaments, which correspond to the fold axes or reverse faults, are related to the approximately N-S directed compression during the Middle Miocene-Pliocene period. The EAFS, as well as many strike-slip faults, started to activate, and the strike-slip tectonic regime has been dominant since the Late Pliocene. Due to the fact that N550E oriented lineaments both are approximately parallel to EAFS and confirm by field work suggest that N550E oriented faults are related to strike-slip tectonic regime. Geological lineament analysis results obtained by automated methods on satellite images are very consistent with current tectonic regime controlling the region.

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