Faulting associated with historical and recent earthquakes in the Eastern Mediterranean region

TLDR

Information on surface faulting is essential for studies of active tectonics and paleoseismology. The paper compiles evidence of surface faulting in historical and recent earthquakes across the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. The study identified 78 pre‑1900 and 72 post‑1900 faulting events, showing that some seemingly inactive faults ruptured before 1900, that prediction from 20th‑century activity was often unreliable, and that the dataset enables magnitude‑rupture length relationships.

Abstract

SUMMARY This paper summarizes evidence for surface faulting in historical and recent earthquakes in the Eastern Mediterranean region and in the Middle East. Such information is particularly important for studies of active tectonics and for palaeoseismology. We have found 78 cases of faulting pre-1900 and 72 post-1900, some of which show that faults that have apparently been inactive this century had already ruptured before 1900. For some cases faulting could not have been predicted from 20th century activity, and in others it could have been expected, but has not been observed during the instrumental period. The data are suYcient to allow the derivation of relationships between magnitude and rupture length.