Middle east tectonics: Applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

The Middle East region incorporates all known types of major plate boundaries in its territory as well as significant active intraplate deformation. Until recently, understanding the tectonics in this complex region has been hindered by a relative lack of data and the complexity of the geologic and tectonic problems. Even with the increase in the amount of data in the past decade or so, the complexities of the region require a multidisciplinary approach to understand the geology and tectonics. In order to handle large, multidisciplinary data sets with varying quality and resolution, we have adopted a Geographic Information System (GIS) approach for construction of a multipurpose database to look at these problems in a comprehensive and unconventional way. Here, we present new compilation maps of surficial tectonic features and depth to the Moho for the Middle East, and describe a cross-section tool to work with data in a GIS format. These maps are available at our web site at http://atlas.geo.cornell.edu.