Event Supersite dedicated to the 6 February 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye earthquake sequence
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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.
Relative plate motion between Arabia and Anatolia ranges from 6 to 10 mm/yr and has resulted in destructive earthquakes in eastern Turkey as documented by historical records. The largest known earthquakes along the EAFZ occurred on November 29, 1114 (M > 7.8), March 28, 1513 (M > 7.4) and March 2, 1893 (M > 7.1). The activity of these large devastating historical earthquakes contrasts with the low-level of activity after 1900 and, generally, the fault zone showed apparent seismic quiescence.
The relative quiescence of the EAF was broken by the Mw 6.9 January 24, 2020, Sivrice Elazığ earthquake along the Pütürge segment. The Mw 7.8 February 6, 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquake ruptured the remaining segments of the EAF to the west of Pütürge. Following the 2020 Elazığ event, seismic activity has been observed to increase towards the NE end of Mw 7.8 February 6, 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquake rupture zone, most probably due to postseismic deformation of the 2020 earthquake. Recent studies have revealed partial surface creep taking place along the eastern section of the EAF. However, westward extent of the shallow creep is yet to be determined.
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).
