A Mw6.7 coming in from Turkey now

[davenn]

TL;DR

Mw 6.7 Turkey

As I type this, I am recording a Mw 6.7 from Turkey coming in on my seismograph

http://www.sydneystormcity.com/seismograms.htmThe orange dot on the right ( the left side yellow dot is a M5.6)

Dave

 

[fresh_42]

The M6.7 is in the middle of nowhere, but the M5.6 is close to high populated areas. They are pretty far apart!?

 

[davenn]

The M6.7 is in the middle of nowhere, but the M5.6 is close to high populated areas. They are pretty far apart!?

Fortunately, it's 100km from the largest nearby city, Diyarbikar. There are a lot of villages and towns closer to the event

Google Earth is good for seeing what else is nearby

 

[fresh_42]

Are the two somehow related, or independent events? The faults don't seem related.

 

[davenn]

Are the two somehow related, or independent events? The faults don't seem related.

They are related in that they are both the result of tectonic motion along both of them is squeezing
the central part of Turkey out to the west, as your map indicates.
The northwards motion of the Arabian plate is around 15 - 20mm/year
The Anatolian Plate is moving westwards at around 21mm / year

 

[chemisttree]

Just curious, what’s “Mw?”

 

[davenn]

Just curious, what’s “Mw?”

Mw = Moment Magnitude, it's the main one now used ( for ~ the last 25 years or so ).
It gives a better representation of the size of the quake and it doesn't suffer from the recording overload
that all the older magnitude do, eg the more commonly ones like ML (Local Magnitude = the old Richter scale),
Mb (Body wave Magnitude), MS = Surface Magnitude ( used to be used for the large non-local events).

ML is still commonly used for quakes within ~ 200 km of the recording station. It was never intended for use
for big distant event. But as usual with the media, they latch onto something and won't let it go and ML
gets wrongly used for many quakes.

There are a few more recent and less commonly ones used eg Mww, Mwp, Me

Mw, the moment magnitude takes into account the length of the rupture, the area of the fault plane that has
slipped and this gives a better indication of the amount of energy released in the quake.
Mw can be calculated for any size event.
Dave

 

[berkeman]

Looks like the number of fatalities is climbing...

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...day-death-toll-magnitude-latest-a9301141.html

 

[davenn]

Looks like the number of fatalities is climbing...

Sadly, it doesn't surprise me. So many countries like Turkey that have no standards for buildings to withstand
quakes and when you are out into the small towns/villages almost all homes etc are adobe brick/mud huts
that cannot withstand quakes half the size of this one

 

[fresh_42]

like Turkey that have no standards for buildings to withstand
quakes

Oh, they have those standards, they just do not follow them or do not know they exist at all. Even in dense populated areas like Istanbul there are many buildings which were built illegally, or on which additional stores have been built etc. Cheap concrete and similar savings are an issue, too. You're probably safer in the metro tunnel beneath the Bosporus than in ancient city quarters.

 

[chemisttree]

One of the quakes is reported to be centered around the town of Sivrice. I just visited there a few moments ago (Google Earth) and the place looks charming. Almost like some places in northern California. Sivrice looks like a nice, clean agricultural community that caters to a vacation crowd. No mud or adobe huts in sight from the road. Pretty modern looking buildings. They are and always have been living in an earthquake prone area. I’d be pretty surprised if buildings there weren’t built to some code, but who knows.Google Earth Linkhttps://earth.app.goo.gl/Fh2C1B
#googleearth

The Northridge earthquake was a 6.7 (Ml or Mw?) that did significant damage to buildings in an area prone to earthquake and that has some of the most rigorous building standards in the US. It killed 57.

 

[davenn]

The Northridge earthquake was a 6.7 (Ml or Mw?)

I had to google that to confirm haha ... Mw 6.7

 

[davenn]

Are the two somehow related, or independent events? The faults don't seem related.

Hey, Sorry, just realized that I probably misunderstood what you said.
I'm now assuming you were referring to the 2 quakes, the 5.6 and the 6.7, no, not directly related
For some reason I thought you were referring to the two fault systems, the north and east Anatolian Faults

my badDave