Investigating the slip-rate of an unexplored segment of the Doruneh Fault in central Iran: the Doruneh - south Torud Playa segment

A significant portion of the Doruneh fault length in central Iran has remained completely unknown due to its location within the aeolian and evaporitic sediments of the central Iran. The geological maps also show the fault trace in most central Iran as a dashed inferred fault line. Since the fault is among the largest strike-slip faults with a reverse component and numerous human societies have grown around it, its paleoseismologocal studies are of great importance. According to aerial photos, satellite images and geological maps of the fault in Central Iran, we first identified the strike of the fault and then extracted the fault geometry in the field by digging two trenches on the late Quaternary deposits displaced by the fault. We have also sampled different layers to estimate the fault slip rate in central Iran, which is in the process of measuring Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) signals. The result of these samples will help us to identify the fault slip rate as well as the late Quaternary climate change in Central Iran.