Kahramanmaraş Event Supersite

Event Supersite dedicated to the 6 February 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye earthquake sequence

Event Supersite Coordinator
Ziyadin Çakır, Istanbul Technical University - Department of Geology
34469 Maslak / Istanbul / Turkey
Email : ziyadin.cakir@itu.edu.tr

Co-coordinator
Semih Ergintav, Bogazici University, Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute, Department of Geodesy
34680 Cengelkoy-Istanbul/Turkey
Email: semih.ergintav@boun.edu.tr

 

Important links (see more details at the end of this page):

Supersite open EO data access

Kahramanmaraş Science page

Scientific results from the global scientific community
Supersite area description

The East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ) forms a plate boundary (~600 km) between the Arabian and Anatolian plates. Its southern extension connects to the Dead Sea Fault Zone (DSFZ) and creates a triple junction between Adana block, Anatolian and Arabian plates at Kahramanmaraş. Its northern tip connects with the North Anatolian Fault Zone and creates another triple junction between Arabia, Anatolia and Eurasian plates at Karlıova.

The Kahramanmaraş earthquake

On 6 February 2023, early in the morning (4:17 a.m. local time), a magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred on the East Anatolian fault resulting in massive destruction and loss of life in south-eastern Türkiye and northern Syria.   As the strong earthquake sequence unfolded it became apparent that this was not a straightforward mainshock-aftershock sequence but involved activity on multiple faults. The region was struck again about 9 hours later by another major earthquake with Mw 7.7, to the north of the first main shock.

The relatively shallow depth of the mainshock (~18km) resulted in severe shaking over a large area of Turkey and Syria, as well as parts of Lebanon, Israel, and Cyprus. Total loss of life in 10 provinces around the epicenter records more than 40 000 in Turkey and  more than 6000 in Syria as of February 20.

Now researchers are mapping the earthquakes’ ruptures in the field, installing and measuring GNSS and creepmeters stations using critical observations coming from remote sensing (InSAR and image correlations) and seismological observations.

Event Supersite goals

The main objective of this Event Supersite is to favor the scientific investigation of different aspects of this earthquake, from the characteristics of its source to the impact on the human and natural environment.
This goal will be pursued using the GEO-GSNL Open Science approach, with coordination by local researchers to ensure that scientific results obtained by the international community are transferred to local decision makers as actionable information.

International scientific contributions

The area affected by the earthquake is huge (the mainshock rupture length is >450 km), and the use of EO data is considered fundamental to assess the physical characteristics of the rupture (source model, stress transfer on nearby faults, creeping and locked segments, etc.) and monitor the evolution of the disaster impacts (incremental building damage, landslide movements, infrastructure and dam stability). Since one of the aims of this Event Supersite is to support local researchers in their efforts to provide actionable scientific information to the local decision makers, we provide below a list of important topics selected by the local scientific community. This list will be updated during the Supersite life.  
List of priority topics for scientific investigation

TOPIC

WHERE / HOW

Co-seismic displacement field map

Entire area

Co-seismic surface faulting map

Entire area

Finite fault inversion model

All sources

Coulomb stress transfer on nearby faults

Geometric and kinematic parameters of East Anatolia faults are available from EPOS-ICS

Historical seismicity

Supersite area

Pre-seismic ground deformation map

Entire area

Post-seismic ground deformation map

Entire area and nearby faults

Damage maps

Entire area

Soil liquefaction

Entire area

High resolution ground deformation monitoring of critical infrastructures

E.g., dams, bridges, railways, etc.

High resolution ground deformation monitoring of landslides reactivated by the earthquake

Specific AOIs to be defined.

 

Open access to EO data

Thanks to  ASI and CONAE we can provide Open Access to a large interferometric dataset, including pre-event images and post-event images, planned to be acquired until the end of 2023. We also list other sources of open data.

Supersite open EO data access page

Open access to in situ data

Continuous Seismic waveforms, event specific data and earthquake catalogs are accessible from AFAD, Earthquake Data Center System of Turkey (https://tdvms.afad.gov.tr) and from the Boğaziçi University, Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute (http://www.koeri.boun.edu.tr/sismo/2/tr/)

 

30s and 1s GNSS data of the TUSAGA-Aktif GNSS network is available from https://www.tusaga-aktif.gov.tr/

 

The following data are openly accessible from the EPOS European Research Infrastructure portal:

  • Instrumental earthquake parameters
  • Seismogenic fault database
  • Felt reports
  • Moment tensor data
  • Seismic waveforms distributed by KOERI
  • PGA hazard maps for a mean return period of 475 yr 

Further in situ data can be requested to the Supersite Coordinators.

How to share your results

We ask you to share your work with the GSNL scientific community on the Kahramanmaraş Supersite Science page.

We recommend you make your results openly available in digital format (e.g. not just images but actual data values). You can use a CC-BY-4 license.

To ensure IP rights we invite you identify your results with a DOI. You can obtain a DOI using a number of free services (e.g., Zenodo, EarthArXiv).

Through this Google Form you can send us the reference to your results.