North Anatolian Fault
Encyclopedia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
which runs along the transform boundary between the Eurasian Plate
Eurasian Plate
The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate which includes most of the continent of Eurasia , with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent, and the area east of the Chersky Range in East Siberia...
and the Anatolian Plate
Anatolian Plate
The Anatolian Plate is a continental tectonic plate consisting primarily of the country of Turkey.The easterly side is a boundary with the Arabian Plate, the East Anatolian Fault, a left lateral transform fault....
. The fault extends westward from a junction with the East Anatolian Fault
East Anatolian Fault
The East Anatolian Fault is a major strike-slip fault zone in eastern Turkey. It forms the transform type tectonic boundary between the Anatolian Plate and the northward-moving Arabian Plate. The difference in the relative motions of the two plates is manifest in the left lateral motion along the...
at the Karliova Triple Junction
Karliova Triple Junction
The Karlıova Triple Junction is a geologic triple junction of three tectonic plates: the Anatolian Plate, the Eurasian Plate and the Arabian Plate....
in eastern Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, across northern Turkey and into the Aegean Sea
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
. It runs about 20 km south of Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
.
Significant earthquakes
Since the disastrous 1939 Erzincan earthquake1939 Erzincan earthquake
The 1939 Erzincan earthquake was a major natural disaster that hit the province of Erzincan in eastern Turkey at 1:57 am on December 27, 1939. The earthquake of seven violent shocks, the biggest one measuring 8.2 on the Richter scale, was the most powerful one to strike Turkey in recent...
, there have been seven earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
s measuring over 7.0 on the Richter scale, each happening at a point progressively further west. Seismologists studying this pattern believe that earthquakes happen in "storms"
Earthquake storm
An earthquake storm is a recently proposed theory about earthquakes, where one triggers a series of other large earthquakes—along the same plate boundary—as the stress transfers along the fault system. This is similar to the idea of aftershocks, with the exception that they take place...
over a number of decades and that one earthquake triggers the next. By analysing the stresses caused along the fault by each earthquake, they were able to forecast the shock
1999 Izmit earthquake
The 1999 İzmit earthquake was a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck northwestern Turkey on August 17, 1999, at about 3:02am local time. The event lasted for 37 seconds, killing around 17,000 people and leaving approximately half a million people homeless...
that hit the town of İzmit
Izmit
İzmit is a city in Turkey, administrative center of Kocaeli Province as well as the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality. It is located at the Gulf of İzmit in the Sea of Marmara, about east of Istanbul, on the northwestern part of Anatolia. The city center has a population of 294.875...
with devastating effect in August 1999. It is thought that the chain is not complete, and that an earthquake will soon strike further west along the fault – perhaps in the heavily populated city of Istanbul.
| Event | Moment magnitude Moment magnitude scale The moment magnitude scale is used by seismologists to measure the size of earthquakes in terms of the energy released. The magnitude is based on the seismic moment of the earthquake, which is equal to the rigidity of the Earth multiplied by the average amount of slip on the fault and the size of... |
Casualties |
|---|---|---|
| 1939 Erzincan 1939 Erzincan earthquake The 1939 Erzincan earthquake was a major natural disaster that hit the province of Erzincan in eastern Turkey at 1:57 am on December 27, 1939. The earthquake of seven violent shocks, the biggest one measuring 8.2 on the Richter scale, was the most powerful one to strike Turkey in recent... |
7.9 | 32,962 dead |
| 1942 Niksar-Erbaa 1942 Niksar-Erbaa earthquake The 1942 Niksar-Erbaa earthquake occurred at 16:03 local time on 20 December. It had an estimated magnitude of 7.0 and a maximum felt intensity of IX on the Mercalli intensity scale, causing 3,000 casualties.... |
6.9 | |
| 1943 Tosya-Ladik 1943 Tosya-Ladik earthquake The 1943 Tosya-Ladik earthquake occurred at 00:20 local time on 26 November, near Tosya, Kastamonu Province, in northern Turkey. The earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 7.2 and a maximum felt intensity of between IX–X on the Mercalli intensity scale, causing 4,000 casualties.... |
7.7 | |
| 1944 Bolu-Gerede 1944 Bolu-Gerede earthquake The 1944 Bolu-Gerede earthquake occurred at 05:22 local time on 1 February. The earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 7.2 and a maximum felt intensity of IX–X on the Mercalli intensity scale.... |
7.5 | |
| 1949 Karlıova 1949 Karlıova earthquake The 1949 Karlıova earthquake occurred at 18:43 UTC on 17 August with an epicenter near Karlıova in Bingöl Province, Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey... |
7.1 | |
| 1951 Kurşunlu 1951 Kurşunlu earthquake The 1951 Kurşunlu earthquake occurred at about 18:33 GMT on August 13, 1951, near Kurşunlu, Çankırı Province, Central Anatolia Region, Turkey... |
6.9 | 50 dead, 3,354 injured |
| 1957 Abant 1957 Abant earthquake The 1957 Abant earthquake occurred at 08:33 on 26 May. The earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 7.1 and a maximum felt intensity of IX on the Mercalli intensity scale, causing 52 casualties.... |
6.8 | |
| 1966 Varto 1966 Varto earthquake The Varto earthquake of 1966 was an earthquake that occurred on August 19, 1966 in Varto town of Muş Province in eastern Turkey. The magnitude of the earthquake was 6.9 on the surface wave magnitude scale and had a maximum felt intensity of IX on the Mercalli intensity scale. The fatalities... |
6.9 | 2,394 dead, 1,489 injured |
| 1967 Mudurnu Valley | 7.1 | 86 dead, 332 injured |
| 1992 Erzincan 1992 Erzincan earthquake On March 13, the 1992 Erzincan earthquake struck Eastern Turkey. Originating on the North Anatolian Fault, it rocked the country, leaving more than 497 people dead, roughly 2,000 injured, and an unknown amount missing.- Geology :... |
6.5 | |
| 1999 İzmit 1999 Izmit earthquake The 1999 İzmit earthquake was a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck northwestern Turkey on August 17, 1999, at about 3:02am local time. The event lasted for 37 seconds, killing around 17,000 people and leaving approximately half a million people homeless... |
7.4 | 17,480 dead and 43,959 injured |
| 1999 Düzce | 7.2 | 894 dead |