Multidisciplinary analyses of the rupture characteristic of the June 14, 2020, <i>M</i><sub>w</sub> 5.9 Kaynarpinar (Karliova, Bingol) earthquake reveal N70E-striking active faults along the Yedisu Seismic Gap of the North Anatolian Fault Zone
Kenan Akbayram, Kemal Kiransan, Sadik Varolgunes, Pinar Buyukakpinar, Ezgi Karasozen, C. Bayik
article (Uluslararası, Hakemli) | Yazar(lar): Kenan Akbayram, Kemal Kiransan, Sadik Varolgunes, Pinar Buyukakpinar, Ezgi Karasozen, C. Bayik | Yıl: 2023 | Dergi/Kurum: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCES | İndeks: WOS.SCI | DOI: 10.1007/s00531-022-02256-4 | Anahtar Kelimeler: 2020 Kaynarpinar, Karliova earthquake,
On June 14, 2020, M-w 5.9 Kaynarpinar earthquake occurred in the easternmost part of the North Anatolian Fault Zone, along the Yedisu Seismic Gap near the Karliova Triple Junction. Following the event, various agencies reported different epicenter locations. This issue and the complex fault pattern around the triple junction caused uncertainties about the ruptured fault and the rupture mechanism. To define the geometry of the ruptured fault, we (1) held a field survey within a week of the mainshock, (2) correlated our field data with the multitrack InSAR data, (3) relocated the epicenter of the mainshock, and its aftershocks, and (4) implemented moment tensor inversion analyses to the earthquakes larger than M 3.3. We defined a similar to N70E-striking surface rupture and measured the average co-seismic dextral slip magnitude as similar to 16 +/- 1 cm in the field which is compatible with the horizontal displacement magnitude measured by InSAR (13-15 cm). Since no similar to N70E-striking faults were reported in the existing active fault database, we examined the prominent geomorphological structures along the rupture area. We determined two dextral fault families along the eastern part of the Yedisu Seismic Gap; (1) NW-SE-striking faults of the North Anatolian Fault Zone, and (2) N70E-striking faults forming the Kaynarpinar-Yuvakli Fault Zone. This fault zone, defined and named in this study, is a part of the N70E-striking faults of the Turkish-Iranian High Plateau and the North Anatolian Fault Zone. The fault zone must have carried some, if not most, of the dextral sense-of-slip in the easternmost part of the North Anatolian Fault Zone during the Quaternary.