Although earthquakes along the North Anatolian Fault (NAF) have been very frequent and devastating to the city of Istanbul, recurrence rate has been difficult to evaluate as faults are located offshore. A new study published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (BSSA) brings new evidence on the earthquake history of NAF's main segment based on seabed soil samples.
According to Laureen Drab, a seismologist at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris France, the important finding of the study is the assignment of past earthquake events to specific fault segments. The particular information, knowing which segment of the fault ruptured when, has a great impact on the recurrence rate of earthquakes along the main fault that shakes Istanbul from time to time.
Examining two cores of sediment deposits from the area's seabed, the research team tried to identify and date earthquake-induced disturbances. Rapidly deposited layers, or turbidites, of silt and sand of different grain sizes, minerals and geochemical properties, as a result of underwater landslides, were the leading earthquake-induced evidence. To date the specific disturbances, radiocarbon and other tests were performed on the two samples.
Drab and her research team, managed to reconstruct the earthquake time occurrence along Cinarcik fault, being the NAF's main segment, based on historical and the newly obtained data. Turbidites revealed that six events from 136 to 1896 AD were attributed to the Cinarlik Fault, while the 1766 AD rupture, previously assigned to the Cinarlik Fault, was now attributed to another segment.
Source: Sciencedaily.com
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