Abstract:

On February 6, 2023 at 13:24, an earthquake with a moment magnitude of 7.6 (Mw) occurred on the left-lateral strike-slip Çardak Fault. This earthquake, which created a 105 km long surface rupture on the Çardak Fault, could be traced and mapped from Göksun district of Kahramanmaraş province to Bıçakçı in Doğanşehir district of Malatya province in the east. The surface rupture produced left-lateral offsets of up to 8 meters and vertical displacements of 3-5 meters, which reflect the character of the fault. Within the Çardak Fault zone, surface deformations such as lateral spreads, pull-apart basins, fault scarps, and mole tracks also developed. The surface rupture of the Çardak Fault was firstly detected by the General Directorate of Mapping (GGM) with aerial photographs and satellite images taken after the earthquake and then confirmed by field works conducted between February 14-20 and 26-27, 2023. The geomorphologic traces of the fault were precisely measured and mapped from the ground with laser meters and from the air with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). In addition, the data collected in the study were stored in the cloud environment as a geographic data service and made available to researchers with web-based maps (Cbskampus, 2023).

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