This study attempts to present a clear case of seismic activity caused by the Quaternary reactivation of a seismogenic blind basement fault in the Sheladiz area. This area is located within the Western Zagros fold-thrust belt in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, near the north-eastern margin of the Arabian plate. Focal mechanisms of largest earthquakes were provided by the Harvard CMT and UK ISC bulletins. The Sheladiz fault is a NE-trending, nearly vertical to steeply dipping, seismically active left-lateral (sinistral) strike-slip blind basement fault that extends for more than 80 km with focal depths of 18–24 km, and passes transversely through major fold structures. This fault probably coincides with the continuation of Late Precambrian Kutchuk-Duhok and Sinjar-Herki transverse basement faults that forms the boundary between the Sinjar-Abdul Aziz and Deir Al Zor-Erbil transversal blocks in the study area. Left-lateral (sinistral) strike-slip movements along this basement fault may be related to the anticlockwise rotation of the Arabian plate with respect to the Eurasian plate. The stress inversion results indicate a predominant of N-S (05°/003°) oriented maximum compressive stress (σ1) in the Sheladiz area. This present-day dominant direction supports the active deformation rates along the Arabia‐Eurasia collision zone. Earthquakes in Kurdistan are mainly produced by the neotectonic reactivation of many seismically active blind basement faults that locally occur close to the surface as major faults or well-defined structural and topographic lineaments. The findings of the present study may offer more clues to predict where future earthquakes are most likely to occur.

这项研究试图提出一个由Sheladiz地区的地震成因盲基底断层的第四纪复活引起的地震活动的清晰案例。该区域位于伊拉克北部库尔德斯坦地区的西部Zagros褶皱冲断带内，靠近阿拉伯板块的东北边缘。哈佛大学CMT和英国ISC公告提供了最大地震的震源机制。Sheladiz断层是NE趋势，几乎垂直到陡倾的，地震活动的左（正弦）走滑盲基底断层，延伸超过80 km，焦点深度为18–24 km，并横向穿过主要折叠结构。该断层可能与前寒武纪的Kutchuk-Duhok和Sinjar-Herki的横​​向基底断层的延续相吻合，这些断层在研究区域内形成了Sinjar-Abdul Aziz和Deir Al Zor-Erbil横向块之间的边界。沿该基底断层的左（正弦）走滑运动可能与阿拉伯板相对于欧亚板的逆时针旋转有关。应力反演结果表明，Sheladiz地区以NS（05°/ 003°）为主的最大压应力（σ1）为主导。今天的主要方向支持了沿阿拉伯-欧亚大陆碰撞带的主动变形速率。库尔德斯坦的地震主要是由许多地震活动的盲基底断层的新构造再活化产生的，这些断层是作为主要断层或定义明确的构造和地形地貌在地表附近发生的。本研究的发现可能会提供更多线索，以预测未来最有可能发生地震的地方。