Çağlar ÖZER
Abstract
It is important to examine earthquake distributions before and after major earthquakes and investigate the relationship between regional stress and earthquake activity. In the past 20 years, aside from the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes (Mw 7.7 and 7.6), Turkey has experienced four other important earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 6.5 that resulted in loss of life and property. These earthquakes are the 03 February 2002 Sultandağı-Afyon earthquake (Mw 6.5), 23 October 2011 Van earthquake (Mw 7.1), 24 January 2020 Sivrice-Elazığ earthquake (Mw 6.8), and 30 October 2020 Aegean Sea earthquake (Mw 6.6). This study investigates the foreshock and aftershock distributions of these four earthquakes using the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) weak ground motion earthquake data catalog. The study discusses whether earthquake activity before devastating earthquakes can provide information about major earthquakes that may occur in the future. Additionally, by examining aftershock distribution, the potential magnitudes and duration of aftershocks are investigated.
Keywords
Earthquake, foreshock, aftershock, seismicity, Turkey.
