New geologic paleoseismological observations along the Acipayam–Serinhisar fault zone, SW Anatolia

Abstract

An earthquake of M = 5.6 occurred on the March 20, 2019, in Acipayam, Denizli, located in a seismically active area at the southwest Anatolian fault system, in Türkiye. It caused extensive damages of infrastructures. The relevant fault (Acipayam–Serinhisar fault zone) has not shown on the active fault map of Türkiye, and it has been discovered first time by this study. The earthquake occurred on the Acipayam segment of this fault zone, which is divided into two separate segments. Three trenches were excavated for paleoseismological studies on this segment. The samples collected from the trenches were dated by radiocarbon method. The obtained data proposed three seismic events, which caused a surface rupture, at BC 235–95, AD 1227–1263 and AD 1471–1738. Considering the last two events, this fault segment produced two earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 and 6.5, 350 years apart. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.