At a dangerous depth…a new earthquake shakes central Turkey

The center said the quake was only two kilometers deep.

The new earthquake comes a day after Turkey and Syria were hit by a strong earthquake measuring 7.8 on the “Richter” scale.

According to seismologists, Monday’s earthquake may be one of the most fatal earthquakes in the past ten years, as it caused a rift extending more than 100 km between the Anatolian plate and the Arabian plate.

Where was the origin of the eastern Mediterranean earthquake?

• The epicenter was at a depth of about 18 km at the East Anatolia Fault.
• The earthquake sent waves to the northeast, causing devastation in central Turkey and Syria.
• During the 20th century, the East Anatolian Fault did not cause significant seismic activity.
• “If we trace the (large) earthquakes recorded by seismometers, we find nothing,” said Roger Mawson, an honorary researcher at the British Geological Survey.
• The region has only had three magnitude-6 earthquakes since 1970, according to the US Geological Survey.
• But in 1822, the region was hit by a magnitude 7 earthquake, killing about 20,000 people.

How strong is this earthquake?

• Earthquakes greater than magnitude 7 have averaged fewer than 20 earthquakes throughout history, making today’s earthquake a serious event.
• Compared to the 6.2-magnitude earthquake that struck central Italy in 2016, which killed nearly 300 people, the energy released by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria is 250 times greater than that of Italy, according to Joanna Faure Walker, chair of the University College London for Risk and Disaster Reduction.
• Only two of the deadliest earthquakes of the same magnitude were recorded in the Eastern Mediterranean from 2013 to 2022.

Why was it so dangerous?

• The East Anatolian Fault is a seismic line that is a break in rocks that leads to seismic slides whereby solid rock slabs jostle along the vertical fault line, increasing pressures until one of them finally slips in a movement that releases a huge amount of energy that can cause in an earthquake.
• The San Andreas Fault in California is perhaps the most famous of these faults in the world, and scientists have long warned of the possibility of a catastrophic earthquake there.
• The Turkish-Syrian earthquake began at a relatively shallow depth, according to David Rothery, a planetary geologist at the Open University in Britain: “The vibration on the surface of the earth may have been more severe than the impact of an earthquake on a deeper level with the same strength at the source.”