SOURCE MECHANISM OF TURKISH EARTHQUAKES OCCURRED ON 06.02.2023 WITH M=7.8, 7.6

Abstract

The article considers the sources of strong Turkish earthquakes that occurred on February 6, 2023 with a magnitude of M = 7.8, 7.6, 6.7. Earthquakes were accompanied by large-scale destruction, deformation of the earth's surface and were felt in 10 provinces of the country, and on the territory of Israel, Iraq, Lebanon, Georgia, Armenia. The reasons for the large-scale destruction of buildings are considered to be precisely the underestimation of the level of risks for this area, as well as the lack of regular inspections of the safety of buildings by local authorities. In addition, the area where the disaster occurred is located in the junction zone of three tectonic plates: African, Arabian and Anatolian, and is one of the most seismically active regions in
the world. The focal mechanism of a strong earthquake (M=7.8) was built and analyzed. In this work, we used the waveform inversion algorithm developed by prof. John Nabelek from Oregon University. It was found that the focal mechanism of the main shock is a left-lateral strike-slip, consistent with the East Anatolian Fault.