Dynamic Rupture Models for the 2023 M7.8 Turkey Earthquake Along the East Anatolian Fault Zone
On February 6th, 2023 Southern Turkey and Northern Syria were hit by two devastating earthquakes. The first earthquake, a M 7.8 event, ruptured the main East Anatolian Fault (EAF) zone and the second earthquake, a M 7.6 event, ruptured the Sürgü Fault. In this work we focus our attention towards the first earthquake and use 3D dynamic rupture simulations to try and highlight some of the physics behind the rupture propagation. The M7.8 event is believed to have nucleated on a branch fault southeast of the main East Anatolian Fault zone which was able to propagate from the branch onto the EAF causing a much larger event rupturing over 300 km. There are many unanswered questions regarding the rupture process of this event. Firstly, what conditions allowed for rupture on the branch to propagate onto the main fault? Secondly, how was the rupture able to propagate bilaterally on the EAF? Shouldn’t part of it be stress shadowed from slip on the branch? How do the geometric complexities along the EAF influence how the rupture propagated? In an attempt to answer some of these questions we construct a 3D finite element mesh of the ruptured area for the M7.8 event and in this study we do not include the Sürgü Fault which hosted the subsequent M7.6 event. We embed all the faults in a large elastic medium and we force nucleation to occur on the branch segment. Initial results seem to indicate that both a substantial stress drop on the branch fault, and a high stressed intersection can allow for the rupture to propagate onto the EAF. This work is still preliminary and we intend to further highlight aspects of the rupture in future models, using available data such as GPS and InSar to help put constraints on our models.
Session: February 2023 Mw 7.8 Earthquake Sequence in Turkey [Poster]
Type: Poster
Room: Ballroom
Date: 4/19/2023
Presentation Time: 08:00 AM (local time)
Presenting Author: Evan Marschall
Student Presenter: Yes
Additional Authors
Evan Marschall Presenting Author Corresponding Author evanmarschall516@gmail.com University of California, Riverside |
Roby Douilly robyd@ucr.edu University of California, Riverside |
Baoning Wu bwu015@ucr.edu University of Southern California |
Gareth Funning gareth@ucr.edu University of California, Riverside |
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Dynamic Rupture Models for the 2023 M7.8 Turkey Earthquake Along the East Anatolian Fault Zone
Category
February 2023 Mw 7.8 Earthquake Sequence in Turkey
Description