February 3, 2002 Sultandagi Earthquake (Mw:6.5), Central Southwestern Turkey
by
Omer Emre
General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA), Geological Research Department, 06520, Ankara, Turkey
Coauthors: Tamer Yigit Duman, Selim Özalp, Ahmet Dogan, Fatma Tokay and Ismail Kusçu (MTA)

On 3 February 2002 a Mw6.5 earthquake occurred in the Sultandagi-Çay region of central-southwestern Turkey, causing 46 casualties and moderate to heavy damage. The main shock was followed by 3 aftershocks larger than Mw5, of these, the largest, Mw6.0, occurred two hours after the main event. The Sultandagi earthquake was caused by reactivation of the Sultandag fault, a major normal fault located at the apex of the Isparta Angle, a system of structures that help accommodate the tectonic escape of Turkey to the west. Surface faulting was associated with the earthquake, resulting in a 21-km-long rupture in three distinct sections separated by gaps of 2-2.5 km. Normal slip up to 21 cm and horizontal extension, in a general north-south direction, up to 15 cm was recorded along the rupture. One fault strand, less than 1-km-long, showed left-lateral slip up to 10 cm. The overall trend of the surface faulting is east-west but the faulting occurs on discontinuous fault strands that vary in orientation from N040E to N126E. The eastern two sections of rupture, the Pinarkaya and Çay, show reactivation of the main Sultandagi fault and secondary faults; whereas the western, Maltepe section shows reactivation, within basin alluvium, of secondary faults splaying from the Sultandagi fault where it takes a ~900 bend. Along the Pinarkaya section left-lateral offset was measured along one fault strand, and along the eastern and western ends of the Çay section left- and right-lateral strike-slip components were observed. Apart from these, in the west along Kaliçayi graben, three shorter surface ruptures in N300E direction that are conjugate to the main rupture. The epicenter of the main shock is located on the hanging wall of the Sultandagi fault zone, and combined with structural, geomorphologic, and aftershock distribution data, reveal a north dip to the main fault. The epicenter of the Mw6.0 aftershock is located in the Afyon graben and the conjugate ruptures in N300E direction in Kaliçayi graben may be related to this secondary event.

Date received: August 1, 2002

Copyright © 2002 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # caji-49.