Coulomb stress changes and magnitude-frequency distribution for Lake Van region

Year 2022, , 141 - 156, 18.08.2022

Hamdi Alkan , Erdem Bayrak

https://doi.org/10.19111/bulletinofmre.990666

Cited By: 6

Abstract

The tectonic structure of Türkiye is under the influence of Arabian, Eurasian, African, and Anatolian plates. Lake Van region, located in eastern Türkiye, has been exposed to many devastating earthquakes in historical and instrumental periods. In this paper, using regional earthquakes, the tectonic stress variation of Lake Van region was investigated using the Coulomb stress change and the b-value distribution. 83 earthquakes that occurred between 2000 and 2020 are used to calculate the Coulomb stress change, while 17815 earthquakes that occurred between 1903 and 2021 are used to calculate the b-value distribution. Coulomb stress change gives an idea about the transfer of energy to nearby faults. Coulomb stress change and b-value distribution maps were created at

different depths to model the variation of stress. The low b-values and positive Coulomb stress values were especially observed around the Van and Yeniköşk faults. On the contrary, no significant variation in stress change was observed around Süphan and Nemrut volcanoes, and high b-values were calculated in this region. Coulomb stress change and earthquake epicentral distribution are compatible and most events occurred in positive stress regions. In conclusion, stress change and b-value distribution were interpreted together and positive stress regions were revealed in the region.

Keywords

Eastern Türkiye, Van Lake Region, Coulomb Stress, b-value, Seismotectonic.

Thanks

The authors thank Republic of Türkiye Prime Ministry Disaster Emergency Management Authority Presidential of Earthquake Department (AFAD) for providing data for this study. Figures 1 and 2 were prepared using the GMT software (Wessel et al., 2013). The fault information used in the figures was digitized from the MTA drawing editor (Emre et al., 2018).

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