Recent coastal deformation near the Strait of Hormuz

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Abstract
Radiocarbon dating of marine shorelines on the flanks of anticlines on the southeastern Zagros coast indicates Holocene uplift rates of 1.8-6.6 mm/year. The corresponding values for shortening assuming decollement yield a resultant slip vector for the last 7000 years of 29 mm/year bearing N 33$^\circ$ E. During the same period the Musandam Peninsula, on the Arabian side of the Strait of Hormuz, subsided towards the north and east at a maximum rate of 8.5 mm/year. Reports of rapid Holocene uplift in the mountains of Oman are not substantiated by the shoreline evidence on the Arabian and Gulf coasts south of Musandam. The lower Mesopotamian plains and the coast of eastern Saudi Arabia also indicate tectonic stability during the late Quaternary. In contrast the western Makran was affected by extensive normal faulting and some strike-slip faulting in the course of the last 35 000 years. The pattern of deformation is consistent with the geophysical evidence but also shows that current seismicity on the Strait of Hormuz is not typical of Holocene conditions in the area.

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