SGER: A Pilot Study on Imaging Bimaterial Interfaces Along the North Anatolian Fault With Fault Zone Head Waves

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The proposed pilot study is associated with recording microseismicity and fault zone waveforms along a section of the North Anatolian fault that ruptured in the M=7.3 1944 earthquake and is partially creeping. The main goals are to image bimaterial interfaces in the fault zone structure, and to a lesser extent also to clarify the microseismicity patterns along that section of the fault. The analysis of head waves will provide a test for the predicted sense of the velocity contrast across the study area based on the detailed geological observations of damage asymmetry across the North Anatolian fault.The results will contribute to developing improved understanding of the long-term evolution, internal organization and seismic potential of the North Anatolian fault.The issue of possible statistical preference of earthquake propagation directions on large faults can have profound implications for estimates of seismic shaking hazard in large metropolitan areas like Istanbul, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Analysis of the recorded local microseismicity patterns will contribute to the understanding of creeping sections of large continental strike-slip faults. The study will be done in collaboration with the group of Prof. Mustafa Aktar from the Kandilli Observatory in Istanbul, Turkey, and will form parts of the education of USC graduate student and Kandilli student/researcher. This SGER is jointly funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering, ANESA program, and the Geophysics program in GEO/EAR.