M 7.5 - Elbistan earthquake, Kahramanmaras earthquake sequence
- 2023-02-06 10:24:48 (UTC)
- 38.011°N 37.196°E
- 7.4 km depth
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Limited area affected
Significant population exposed
Origin - Review Status
- REVIEWED
- Magnitude
- 7.5 mww
- Depth
- 7.4 km
- Time
- 2023-02-06 10:24:48 UTC
Moment Tensor Fault Plane Solution Finite Fault Cross-section of slip distribution. View Nearby Seismicity - Time Range
± Three Weeks - Search Radius
250.0 km - Magnitude Range
≥ 4.0
Contributors US
USGS National Earthquake Information Center, PDE
Tectonic Summary
On February 6, 2023, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake occurred in southern Turkey near the northern border of Syria. The earthquake occurred approximately nine hours after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake located 95 km to the southwest. The event ruptured either a near-vertical left-lateral fault striking east-west, or a right-lateral fault striking north-south. The preliminary location of the magnitude 7.5 earthquake places it within the vicinity of a triple-junction between the Anatolia, Arabia, and Africa plates. The location and mechanism of the earthquake, along with aftershocks that have occurred since the M7.8 earthquake nine hours earlier, are consistent with the February 6 earthquake sequence having occurred within the broad East Anatolia fault zone, though not necessarily all on the same fault strands. The East Anatolia fault zone accommodates the westward extrusion of Turkey into the Aegean Sea.Although earthquake are commonly plotted as single points on a map, they rupture planes that have dimensions. A magnitude 7.5 strike slip earthquake typically ruptures a fault ~120 km long and ~18 km wide.
The region where the February 6 magnitude 7.5 earthquake occurred is seismically active. Prior to the earthquake sequence starting on February 6, only three earthquakes of magnitude 6 or larger have occurred within 250 km of the February 6 earthquake sequence since 1970. The largest of these, a magnitude 6.7, occurred northeast of the February 6 earthquakes on January 24, 2020. The magnitude 7.5 earthquake on February 6 earthquake occurred between the magnitude 7.8 event and January 2020 event. All of these prior earthquakes occurred along or in the vicinity of the East Anatolia fault. Despite the relative seismic quiescence of the epicentral area of the February 6 earthquakes, southern Turkey and northern Syria have experienced significant and damaging earthquakes in the past. Aleppo, in Syria, was devastated several times historically by large earthquakes, though the precise locations and magnitudes of these earthquakes can only be estimated. Aleppo was struck by an estimated magnitude 7.1 earthquake in 1138 and an estimated magnitude 7.0 earthquake in 1822. Fatality estimates of the 1822 earthquake were 20,000-60,000.