A New Geophysical Fieldwork Experiment Aims at Elucidating the Depth Extent of Faults Responsible For the 2023 Kahramanmaraş Earthquakes

As part of the bilateral cooperation project entitled  “A comprehensive geophysical study of the lithospheric dynamics of multi-plate interactions and their relations with the 2023 Kahramanmaraş-Türkiye earthquakes" has been carried out in partnership with TÜBİTAK and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The project includes participants from the ITU, Afyon Kocatepe University, and Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa. Dr. Ümit Avşar from the ITU Geophysical Engineering Department is leading a team of students with two graduate and six undergraduates. They collected magnetotelluric data to image the deep structure of the faults. As part of this crucial international project, which aims to examine the subsurface structure characteristics of the 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes (which resulted in over 50,000 fatalities), students involved in magnetotelluric data collection, as well as its subsequent processing and analysis, have gained priceless experience in a scientific topic of paramount importance to our country. This project has also marked a significant step in their professional careers. The project is currently in the phase of the collected magnetotelluric data analyses to image the geometry of the faults that triggered these devastating earthquakes and examine their interactions deep within the Earth.

Figure. Magnetotelluric site locations (red triangles) and Kahramanmaraş earthquake epicenters (yellow stars).



Figure. Two junior geophysical engineers from the field team.




Figure. Field team at the Magnetotelluric station and Chinese Project partners.