The 2020 <i>M</i>_<i>w</i> 6.8 Elazığ (Turkey) Earthquake Reveals Rupture Behavior of the East Anatolian Fault

Abstract

Abstract The 2020 M w 6.8 Elazığ earthquake was the largest along the East Anatolian Fault (EAF) in over a century, providing valuable insights into its rupture behavior. We use satellite geodesy and seismology to detail the mainshock rupture, postseismic deformation, and aftershocks. The mainshock propagated mostly westward at ∼ 2 km/s from a nucleation point on an abrupt ∼ 10° fault bend. Only one end of the rupture corresponds to an established EAF segment boundary, and the earthquake may have propagated into the slip zone of the 1874 M ∼ 7.1 Gölcuk Gölu earthquake. It exhibits a pronounced ( ∼ 80%) shallow slip deficit, only a small proportion of which is recovered by early aseismic afterslip. The slow rupture velocity, shallow slip deficit, and minimal afterslip are characteristic of earthquakes hosted by faults of low‐to‐intermediate structural maturity, indicating that faults continue to evolve in important ways even as they accrue cumulative offsets of tens of kilometers.