The 2020 Mw 6.8 Elaziğ (Turkey) earthquake reveals rupture behavior of
the East Anatolian Fault
Ezgi Karasozen
Alaska Earthquake Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks,, Alaska Earthquake Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks,, Alaska Earthquake Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks,
Author ProfileAbstract
The 2020 Mw 6.8 Elazig earthquake was the largest along the Eastern
Anatolian Fault (EAF) in over a century, providing valuable insights
into its rupture behavior. We use satellite geodesy and seismology to
detail the mainshock rupture, postseismic deformation and aftershocks.
The mainshock propagated mostly westwards at 2 km/s from a nucleation
point on an abrupt 10° fault bend. Only one end of the rupture
corresponds to an established EAF segment boundary, and the earthquake
may have propagated into the slip zone of the 1874 M 7.1 Golcuk Golu
earthquake. It exhibits a pronounced (80%) shallow slip deficit, only a
small proportion of which is recovered by early aseismic afterslip. The
slow rupture velocity, shallow slip deficit and low afterslip are
characteristic of earthquakes hosted by faults of low-to-intermediate
structural maturity, indicating that faults continue to evolve in
important ways even as they accrue cumulative off sets of tens of
kilometers