Teknik Rapor, ss.1-24, 2023
Two large earthquakes of moment magnitudes Mw
7.8 and Mw 7.7 occurred in southeast Turkey on February 6, 2023, at
04:17 and 13:24 (local time, +3 GMT), respectively. (The second earthquake was initially reported
as Mw 7.5, which was recently revised as Mw 7.7). This report discuses and elaborates the
faults ruptured by these earthquakes, their rupture mechanisms, and the
historical earthquake activities on these faults. On the basis of this information, an
extensive discussion and evaluation take place about the kinematic relation
between the ruptured fault segments of these two major events. These
discussions illuminate the level of kinematic interaction between these two faults
that led the triggering of the second earthquake (Mw 7.7) by the
stress transfer of the first event (Mw 7.8).
The
slip model presented in this report indicate that the Mw 7.8 event
that occurred on the main segments of the East Anatolian Fault Zone loaded
additional stress on the Sürgü-Çardak fault. The excessive additional stress
pushed forward the failure of the Sürgü-Çardak fault and its western segment
ruptured creating the second major earthquake (Mw 7.7) approximately
nine hours after the first one.