Deep Structural and Tectonic Features of Focal Zones of 21st Century Earthquakes in the Northwest Part of the Greater Caucasus

Abstract

The article summarizes the available and newly collected data on the near-surface and deep structure and modern geodynamics of key regions of the northwest part of the Greater Caucasus. Models of the fault-block structure of this orogen and the nature of seismogenic displacements along the faults on its northwest pericline have been developed. The reasons for the abrupt change of the fold-block structure in the area of the Anapa seismogenerating flexural-fault zone are clarified. Detailed models of the near-surface and deep structure were constructed for a number of the most important seismogenerating structures in the Northwestern Caucasus that caused the Lower Kuban-II earthquake on November 9, 2002, with M = 4.7, and the Su-Psekh event on December 10, 2012, with M_w = 4.3, as well as the Pshekh earthquake on November 15, 2004 in Krasnodar krai with M = 4.6. Three-dimensional geodynamic and seismotectonic models of seismogenerating structures were constructed based on the results of field geological and geophysical surveys.