The Geography of Iran: September 2014

Iran is a nation that has quite a bit of tectonic activity. The Bam earthquake occurred in Iran in 2003 with a magnitude of 6.6 on the Richter scale. It caused more than 30,000 deaths. This is just one example of a deadly earthquake that occurred in Iran. Most tectonic activity that occurs in the Middle East is caused by the convergence between two plates. These plates are the Arabian plate and the Eurasian plate. The collision between these plates has caused crustal shortening of the Alborz and the Kopet Dag mountain ranges (both located in northern Iran). One also can see the results of these plates colliding by observing the Zargos Ranges. Folding rocks, rising mountains, and fault movements have occurred in the Zargos region due to tectonic activity involving these plates. The Zargos region is where the highest frequency of earthquakes in Iran occur. The intensities of earthquakes in the region are now pretty low due to deformation. It's different in Central-East Iran, where deformation takes place along a range of intersecting faults. Unlike the Zargos region, the earthquakes in Central-East Iran are a lot more localized. They also have much higher magnitudes. Central-East Iran is the area where the Bam earthquake occurred. Earthquakes of large magnitude also occur in other parts of the country, including Zanjan and Azerbaijan. Certain things are being done to predict earthquakes in Iran. GPS technology is being used to monitor Earth movements over long periods of time in order to predict the location and magnitude of potential earthquakes. In order for seismic activity to be predicted accurately in places like central Iran, advanced computer models need to be utilized with both ground-based and GPS data to assess tectonic activity.