The Maraş triple junction is a geologic

triple junction A triple junction is the point where the boundaries of three tectonic plates meet. At the triple junction each of the three boundaries will be one of three types – a ridge (R), trench (T) or transform fault (F) – and triple junctions can be ...

of three

tectonic plate Plate tectonics (, ) is the scientific theory that the Earth's lithosphere comprises a number of large tectonic plates, which have been slowly moving since 3–4 billion years ago. The model builds on the concept of , an idea developed durin ...

s: the

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 ...

, the African plate and the Arabian plate. The Maraş triple junction is found where the side-by-side African and Arabian plates, both drifting north and demarcated by the north–south trending

Dead Sea Transform The Dead Sea Transform (DST) fault system, also sometimes referred to as the Dead Sea Rift, is a series of Fault (geology), faults that run for about 1,000 km from the Marash triple junction (a junction with the East Anatolian Fault in south ...

(itself an extension of the African Rift Valleys), come up against the Anatolian plate lying across their path at the

East Anatolian Fault The East Anatolian Fault (EAF; ) is a ~700 km long major strike-slip fault zone running from eastern to south-central Turkey. It forms the transform type tectonic boundary between the Anatolian sub-plate and the northward-moving Arabian ...

. The junction site is near the

Gulf of Alexandretta The Gulf of Alexandretta or İskenderun () is a gulf of the eastern Mediterranean or Levantine Sea. It lies beside the southern Turkish provinces of Adana and Hatay. Names The gulf is named for the nearby Turkish city of İskenderun, the cl ...

, and is ~700 km distant from the

Karlıova triple junction Karlıova () is a town and seat of the Karlıova District in Bingöl Province of Turkey. The mayor is Veysi Bingöl (Justice and Development Party (Turkey), AKP). The town had a population of 9,016 in 2021 and is populated by Kurds. The town is ...

. After a long quiescence, the Maraş triple junction was ruptured by the violent

2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

References

Triple junctions Plate tectonics Geology of Turkey {{plate-tectonics-stub