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Earthquake history of the Gökova fault zone by paleoseismologic trenching, SW Turkey

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Abstract

The Gulf of Gökova is a half-graben that is located on the southernmost part of the Aegean Extensional Region. The gulf is bounded on its north by the Gökova Fault Zone, which is an active fault zone that is composed of normal fault segments. We performed paleoseismological trenching throughout the fault zone at two sites, Keramos and Gereme sites. We have recognized two paleoearthquake horizons in Gereme trench and one paleoearthquake horizon in Keramos trench. Dating of samples by OSL and radiocarbon dating methods, and outcomes of Bayesian calculation in Oxcal, bracket the age of the older paleoevent as BCE 1099-161 and the younger event as CE 961-1574. Depending on the age bracket and written accounts in historical catalogues we compare the older paleoevent to the BCE 412-411 historical earthquake and the younger event to the CE 1493 historical earthquake. In conclusion, from this study, we have evidence for at least two surface faulting earthquakes during the Holocene, the most recent one representing the latest onshore surface rupturing event on the Gökova Fault Zone. Furthermore, depending on moment magnitude and rupture length relationships we suggest that the younger paleoearthquake event was about M = 7 according to a possible ~ 60-km-long surface rupture in at least between Kos island and Ören village.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank TÜBİTAK (Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) for funding our research project on the Gökova Fault Zone. We thank Klaus Reicherter and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments and recommendations for an earlier version of this manuscript. We are grateful to the local people in Ören village for their hospitality.

Funding

This study is a part of a research project which was funded by Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK; Project No: 116Y179).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, İstanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, İstanbul, Turkey

    Aynur Dikbaş

  2. Department of Geological Engineering, Faculty of Mines, İstanbul Technical University, İstanbul, Turkey

    H. Serdar Akyüz, Mehran Basmenji & Erdem Kırkan

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  1. Aynur Dikbaş
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  2. H. Serdar Akyüz
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  3. Mehran Basmenji
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  4. Erdem Kırkan
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by AD, SA, MB and EK. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Aynur Dikbaş and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Dikbaş, A., Akyüz, H.S., Basmenji, M. et al. Earthquake history of the Gökova fault zone by paleoseismologic trenching, SW Turkey. Nat Hazards 112, 2695–2716 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-022-05284-0

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