Abstract: Active crustal deformation is calculated for 26 zones of shallow seismicity in the Aegean and the surrounding regions. The data analysis is based on a procedure developed in a previous paper (Papazachos and Kiratzi, 1993). This procedure takes advantage of all the available historical and instrumental data for the calculation of the “size” of the deformation in a seismic zone and of all reliable fault plane solutions which are available for the broader seismic belt for the determination of the “shape” of the deformation. The Aegean and its surroundings has been divided into 11 such seismic belts which may consist of one or more seismic zones that share earthquakes with similar focal mechanisms.This data analysis showed that along the coastal region of Albania, Yugoslavia and western Greece the deformation is taken up by compression in a direction perpendicular to the coast line (47°E) at a rate of about 2 mm/a. In the Ionian islands (Leukada, Cephalonia, Zante) compression occurs at a rate of 10 mm/a in an almost EW direction (N83°E) and extension at a rate of 11 mm/a in an almost NS direction (N174°E). Along the convex side of the Hellenicarc (south of Peloponese, Crete, Rodos), the upper crust is compressed at a rate of about 6 mm/a in a direction N34°E. In the Aegean Sea and the surrounding lands (mainland of western and northern Greece, southern Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, western Turkey) the seismic deformation is taken up by an almost NS extension at an average rate of 5 mm/a. In northwestern Anatolia and the northern Aegean fault zones deformation is controlled by the westward movement along the North Anatolian fault. Northern Anatolia is undergoing a N115°E compression at a rate of 22 mm/a which is relieved by a N25°E extension at a rate of 19 mm/a, and the Northern Aegean is undergoing EW compression at a rate of 16 mm/a and NS extension at a rate of 8 mm/a.The vertical crustal thickening along the external compressional zones ranges from 0.2 to 0.5 mm/a with an average of 0.3 mm/a and the vertical crustal thinning in the inner back-arc extensional area ranges from 0.1 to 2.4 mm/a with an average equal to 0.8 mm/a.In the western part of the area and between the external compressional field and the internal extensional field, a belt exists where the deformation is expressed as extension at an average rate of 1.6 mm/a in a N112°E direction.

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   |texte=   Rates of active crustal deformation in the Aegean and the surrounding area
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