Earthquake hazard of the Aegean Extension Region (West Turkey)

POLAT O. D., GÖK E., Yilmaz D.

TURKISH JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCES, cilt.17, sa.3, ss.593-614, 2008 (SCI-Expanded) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 17 Sayı: 3
  • Basım Tarihi: 2008
  • Dergi Adı: TURKISH JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCES
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.593-614
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: West Turkey, earthquake catalogue, fractal analysis, seismic hazard, M-W=7.4 IZMIT EARTHQUAKE, CRUSTAL DEFORMATION, TECTONIC EVOLUTION, NEOTECTONIC STRUCTURES, CORRELATION DIMENSION, SPATIAL-DISTRIBUTION, SURROUNDING REGIONS, 2-STAGE EXTENSION, RECURRENCE TIMES, TRENDING SELENDI
  • Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

West Turkey, one of the most seismically active regions of Turkey, has been analysed to reveal seismic hazard by using fractal behaviour, seismic quiescence z- and Gutenberg-Richter b-parameters. Starting from raw earthquake catalogue, we performed completeness analysis on recorded events, and a final catalogue, could be accepted as homogeneous, was obtained. According to the results obtained from the Frequency-Magnitude Distribution (FMD), seismic activity rates (b- and z-values) and fractal correlation dimension, we detected three anomalous zones throughout the Aegean Extension Region (AER). These are: (1) Candarli Bay and Bergama-Zeytindag Fault Zone, (2) Izmir fault and Orhanli Fault Zone, and (3) Buldan and surrounding areas. The relatively infrequent occurrence of the great earthquakes in the AER and present hazard parameters obtained by this study suggest that magnitude of a destructive earthquake may reach up to Ms= 6.5. Hence, it is also possible to say that large earthquakes are generally not expected in those related zones because of seismic moment release from small-moderate sized earthquakes.