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Information message about the devastating earthquake in eastern Turkey, March 8, 2010.

Powerful earthquake with M = 6.0, resulting in human casualties and destruction has occurred on March 8, 2010 at 02:32 UTC (05:32 Moscow time) in eastern Turkey's.

Parameters of the earthquake have been determined in the Alert Service (AS) of Information Processing Center (IPC) of Geophysical Survey of RAS in Obninsk with station data obtained from digital and analog seismic stations of Russia, countries of CIS and from abroad. Alert message on this earthquake has been delivered in 13 min after registration to the Ministry of Emergency of the Russian Federation (EMERCOM).

Preliminary processing has been done with data from 48 stations, accurate processing - with data 68 stations.

Fig. 1 presents fragments of records obtained from digital stations Garni (∆ 3.9º), Nalchik (∆ 5.3º), Isparta (∆ 7.5º), Apeiranthos of Naxos (∆ 11.5º), Storozhevoe (∆ 12.3º). Fig. 2 presents fragments of records obtained from digital stations Kiev (∆ 14º), Obninsk (∆ 16.4º), Vasula (∆ 21.3º), Arti (∆ 21.4º), Kasperske Hory (∆ 21.4º).

Figure 1

Figure 2

IPC GS RAS also has obtained information with parameters of this event from some seismological centers, these data are given in table 1:

Table 1

NN	Time in origin h-min-s (GMT)	Lat degr.	Lon degr.	Depth km	N s/st	Ms/ N	mb/ N	I0 calc	GAP	Center
1	02-32-32.9	38.93	39.95	10	68	6/20	6.1/24	8.5	80	IPC GS RAS (Accurate)
2	02-32-33.1	38.94	39.99	10	48	6/16	6.1/22	8.5	106	IPC GS RAS (Preliminary)
3	02-32-35.0	38.84	40	10	524	6.0 Mw			29	CSEM
4	02-32-34.8	38.876	39.992	12	714	6.0/298	5.9/214		32	NEIC
5	02-32-31.7	38.807	40.1	5	46	6.0 ML				KOERI

IPC GS RAS - Informational Processing Center, Geophysical Survey, Russian Academy of Sciences

CSEM - European - Mediterranean seismological center

NEIC - National Earthquakes Information Center of US Geological Service

KOERI - Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute, Turkey

Epicenter

Fig. 3 presents with red star epicenter of this earthquake, which origin was located in Turkey at the depth of 10 km, 113 km N-N-W from Diyarbakir, 153 km E-N-E from Malatya and 420 km W-S-W from Armenian capital Yerevan.

Figure 3

Aftershock

GS RAS has registered 6 aftershocks with М>=4.3 within the first day after the main shock. The most significant aftershock with magnitude M=5.3 has occurred in 5 hours after the main shock.

N	Date & Time (GMT) yy-mm-dd hh:mm:sec	Lat degr.	Lon degr.	Depth km	N station	Ms/ N	mb/ N	Io calc.	Region
20100917	2010-03-08 03:20:26.0	38.78	39.91	10	10	-	4.3/ 3	3.5-4	Turkey
20100918	2010-03-08 07:47:40.0	38.94	40.2	10	33	5.3/ 12	5.7/ 15	7-7.5	Turkey
20100920	2010-03-08 09:00:49.0	38.85	40.11	10	31	-	5.0/ 17	5-5.5	Turkey
20100922	2010-03-08 10:14:25.0	38.93	40.13	10	33	-	5.0/ 14	5-5.5	Turkey
20100924	2010-03-08 11:12:13.0	38.91	40.06	10	40	-	5.0/ 13	5-5.5	Turkey
20100931	2010-03-08 15:04:53.0	38.68	40.02	10	23	-	4.7/ 13	4.5-5	Turkey

Macroseismic manifestations

According to RIA-Novosti this earthquake killed 51 people, 34 people received various injuries. According to the provincial governor Muammer Erol no one person has been left under the debris. Fig. 5 was obtained from map USGS NEIC, it presents the map of intensity composed from telephone calls made by 80 respondents from 44 localities. The earthquake was felt in Turkey, Syria and Iraq.

Figure 4

Figure 5

Historical records

The territory of Turkey is located in a seismically active zone, which experiences frequent destructive earthquakes. In large-scale tectonics is determined by the collision between two plates - the Eurasian and Arabian. At a more detailed level tectonics becomes very difficult. Most of the continental crust (almost the size of Turkey) - The Anatolian block is bounded to the north of the North Anatolian fault, south-east - the East Anatolian fault. The earthquake on March 8, 2010 has occurred in the eastern part of the East Anatolian fault. The model of seismic wave propagation is consistent with the left-hand shift on the plane of the north-east strike. This earthquake is a reminder of the numerous deadly earthquakes which occurred in Turkey in the recent past. As a result of the devastating earthquake of September 7, 1999 (Izmit, M = 7.6), 17 000 were killed, 50 injured 0000 and left 500 000 homeless people. Modern earthquake on March 8, 2010 occurred approximately 90 km south of the earthquake on March 13 , 1992 (Erzincan, M = 6.6), when hundreds died and thousands left homeless. Other, more powerful earthquake (M = 8.0), shaken Erzincan on December 26, 1939, killing approximately 33 000 people.

Focal mechanism and seismic moment of the earthquake

Focal mechanism solutions of the origin for the earthquake which occurred on March 8, 2010 at 02:32 UTC were obtained with CMT technique in National Earthquakes Information Center of US Geological Survey, USGS and in Global CMT Catalog, USA. They are presented in table 2 and figures 6, 7. These solutions are similar. The earthquake has occurred under the action of almost equal expansion and compression forces oriented to the west and south respectively. Both nodal planes are rather steeply falling (declination angles DP=66º-85º), one of them (NP1) propagates from N-W to S-E direction, the other (NP2) – from S-W to N-E direction. The type of motion along both planes is presented by shifts with fault components – right hand shift for NP1, left hand shift – for NP2. The value of seismic moment Мо for the earthquake which occurred on March 8, 2010 in accordance with USGS makes 1.4* 10** 18 n*m, the value of moment magnitude Mw = 6.0, and in accodance with Global CMT Catalog – Мо= 1.55* 10** 18 n*m, Mw = 6.1.

Table 2

Axes of main strengths						Nodal planes						Center
T		P		N		NP1			NP2
Pl	Azm	Pl	Azm	Pl	Azm	Stk	Dp	Slip	Stk	Dp	Slip
4	22	11	181	77	22	318	79	-174	227	85	-11	NEIC
13	276	21	181	65	36	320	66	-174	228	85	-24	Quick CMT

NEIC - National Earthquakes Information Center of US Geological Service

Quick CMT - Quick CMT catalog

Figure 6

Figure 7