8 March 2010 Karakocan (Elazıg, Turkey) Earthquake (ML=5.9) (Türkçe)


All stations were closed on 31 May 2010 because of the low seismic activity.

We located more than 2130 aftershocks between 9 March and 30 May 2010. Our studies go on.

1 June 2010

Page update:
Micro-earthquake maps

TURDEP Projesi
Figure 1: Continuously run multidisciplinary monitoring stations of the TÜRDEP project

TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center (Earth and Marine Sciences Institute) is leading and coordinating the multilateral earthquake research project "Multi-Disciplinary Earthquake Researches in High Risk Regions of Turkey Representing Different Tectonic Regimes" (TÜRDEP) since 2005. The consortium members of the project are the Ministry of Construction and Settlement, Turkish Emergency Management Agency (formerly General Directorate of Disaster Affairs (GDDA)) and 14 Turkish universities. The initiative of the project is to achieve multidisciplinary earthquake studies in the Marmara Sea/Istanbul, East Anatolian Fault System (EAFS) and the Aegean Extensional System (EAS) regions. The continuously run monitoring stations under the scope of the project near the epicentral area is given in Figure 2.


Figure 2: Monitoring stations of the TÜRDEP project operated in the Eastern Mediterranean
and Anatolian regions
The Urgent Monitoring Research after an Earthquake (DEPAR) project is a Prime Ministry State Planning Organization funded project that started in 2006. The TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center Earth and Marine Sciences Institute (EMSI), the Ministry of Public Works and Settlement, and the Turkish Emergency Management Agency have finished assembling a rapid response team with necessary equipmentation that can be deployed to monitor aftershock activities after a Mw ≥ 6 earthquake in Turkey

The goal of the newly formed team is to carry out required in situ measurements to determine the location of the destructive aftershock(s) and to inform the authorities and the public with the first evaluations and results.

DEPAR Activities

TUBITAK Marmara Research Center DEPAR team departed to Elazig approx. 5 hours after the event to setup additional observation stations in the epicentral area (Figure 3a). In under 24 hours the team have started deploying new seismometers (Figure 3b) that will help us track the aftershock activity both spatially and temporally.


Seismometers and solar panels

DEPAR team

DEPAR team
Figure 3a: DEPAR team en route to Elazığ


Station installation work

Station installation work

Station installation work

Devastating effects of earthquakes on the mud-brick buildings

Difference between concrete building with mud brick buildings
Figure 3b: Images from the Station installation work and the destructive effects of earthquake

Microseismology stations installed by the DEPAR team right after the earthquake and the recorded aftershock activity are given in Figures 4a and 4b.

TURDEP Projesi
Figure 4a: Microearthquake(M<2.8) activity of the March 8th 2010 Karakoçan (Elazığ) earthquake recorded by the TÜBİTAK MRC EMSI microearthquake network (click for bigger version)

In figure 4a, the blue station codes show the temporary observation stations ARIN (Arındık), DEMR (Demirci), AOVA (Aşağıovacık), KURU (Kurucak), ISAG (İsaağa), and ARDI (Ardıçtepe) which were installed by the TÜBİTAK MRC EMSI team in 24 hours following the event. The PALD (Palu) station shown with the red station code is the easternmost station of the EAFZ seismological network operated under the TÜRDEP project of our institute. The bigger green star is the epicenter of the mainshock.

Figure 4b shows the M>2.8 aftershock activity recorded by the same stations.

TURDEP Projesi
Figure 4b: M>2.8 aftershock activity recorded by the TÜBİTAK MRC EMSI stations (click for bigger version)

The Coulomb stress change after the mainshock is given in Figure 4c.

TURDEP Projesi
Figure 4c: Coulomb stress change after the mainshock.

The page will be updated as soon as new information is available.

General Information

The East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ) is a NE-SW oriented, 400-550 km long active left-lateral strike slip fault zone between Karlıova (Bingöl) in the north and Antakya in the south. It forms the eastern boundary of the westward escape of the Anatolian plate due to the push of the Arabian plate from south.

The EAFZ is observed continuously as a couple of segments between northeast of the Hazar Lake and the Gökdere village. The right-stepping geometry on the northeast of Palu (Elazığ) causes a transpressional area between Gökdere and Genç (Bingöl) (Şaroğlu et al., 1987).

The preliminary results obtained by the DEPAR aftershock monitoring campaign shows that the earthquake has a lef-lateral mechanism and indicates a faulting along the EAFZ. Detailed focal mechanism parameters will be published in the following days.

The historical earthquakes known to rupture the East Anatolian Fault Zone and the associated fault segments are shown in Figure 5 (the numbers above denote the date of the events, the number below is the time passed since that event in years)


Figure 5: Historical seismicity along the Eastern Anatolian Fault Zone (references: Ambraseys, 1989;
Nalbant vd., 2002; Akyüz vd., 2006). The white star symbolizes the epicenter of the March 8th main shock

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