Arrest of the Mw 6.8 January 24, 2020 Elazig (Turkey) earthquake by shallow fault creep

It has long been conjectured that creeping sections of strike slip faults arrest or subdue earthquake rupture, partly because of their reduced slip potential and partly because of their velocity-strengthening frictional properties. However, no instrumentally recorded large earthquake (Mw >= 6.8) on any well instrumented continental strike-slip fault has thus far occurred that has clearly been arrested at a region of fault creep, rendering it difficult to identify experimentally the parameters that control rupture arrest. Nearfield GPS, InSAR and creepmeter data from the 2020 Elazig (Turkey) earthquake reveal not only how rupture propagation of a large earthquake is hindered by shallow creep reducing the earthquake size, but also provide important quantitative insights into the late interseismic, coseismic and post seismic behavior of a creeping fault, which has important implications for evaluating hazard potential of a major earthquake on a creeping fault, such as has been forecast for the Hayward fault in California. (c) 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Research shows that creeping sections of strike-slip faults may prevent earthquakes due to their reduced slip potential and velocity-strengthening frictional properties. Data from the 2020 Elazig earthquake in Turkey using nearfield GPS, InSAR, and creepmeter reveal how shallow creep hinders the propagation of a large earthquake, providing valuable insights into the behavior of a creeping fault during interseismic, coseismic, and post-seismic periods. This has significant implications for evaluating the hazard potential of major earthquakes on creeping faults, such as the forecasted earthquake on the Hayward fault in California.