The 1944 Bolu–Gerede earthquake occurred at 05:22 local time on 1 February. The

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

had an estimated magnitude of 7.74 and a maximum felt intensity of IX–X (''Violent''–''Extreme'') on the

Mercalli intensity scale The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM, MMI, or MCS) measures the effects of an earthquake at a given location. This is in contrast with the seismic magnitude usually reported for an earthquake. Magnitude scales measure the inherent force or ...

. It ruptured part of the

North Anatolian Fault The North Anatolian Fault (NAF; ) is an active right-lateral strike-slip fault in northern Anatolia, and is the transform boundary between the Eurasian plate and the Anatolian sub-plate. The fault extends westward from a junction with the Ea ...

, forming part of a progressive sequence of events that generally migrated westwards along the fault zone, starting with the

1939 Erzincan earthquake An earthquake struck Turkey's eastern Erzincan Province at with a moment magnitude () of 7.8 and maximum Mercalli intensity of XII (''Extreme''). It is tied with the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes as the most powerful earthquake in Turkey to ...

Tectonic setting

Both

Bolu Bolu is a city in northern Turkey, and administrative center of the Bolu Province and of Bolu District,Gerede Gerede is a town in Bolu Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is located on the highway from Istanbul to Ankara (approximately from Ankara, where the road to the Black Sea coast branches off). It is the seat of Gerede District.

lie close to the

active Active may refer to: Music * ''Active'' (album), a 1992 album by Casiopea * "Active" (song), a 2024 song by Asake and Travis Scott from Asake's album ''Lungu Boy'' * Active Records, a record label Ships * ''Active'' (ship), several com ...

(NAF), a major right-lateral

strike-slip fault In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

zone that forms the transform boundary between the

Anatolian plate The Anatolian plate is a continental tectonic plate lying under Asiatic part of Turkey, known as Anatolia. Most of the country of Turkey is located on the Anatolian plate. The plate is separated from the Eurasian plate and the Arabian plate ...

and the Eurasian plate to the north. The Anatolian plate is being driven westwards by the northward movement of the Arabian plate. It runs from the

Karlıova triple junction Karlıova () is a town and seat of the Karlıova District in Bingöl Province of Turkey. The mayor is Veysi Bingöl (Justice and Development Party (Turkey), AKP). The town had a population of 9,016 in 2021 and is populated by Kurds. The town is ...

in the east to the northern

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

in the west. The NAF is formed of many individual strands and segments, most of which are associated with historical earthquakes. Earthquakes along the NAF tend to occur in mostly westward migrating sequences over a period of decades, interpreted to be a result of

Coulomb stress transfer Coulomb stress transfer is a Seismology, seismic-related geology, geological process of Stress (mechanics), stress changes to surrounding material caused by local discrete deformation events. Using mapped displacements of the Earth's surface during ...

, as each earthquake increases the stress on the next segment of the fault zone, bringing it closer to failure. Most recently, such a sequence began with the 1939 Erzincan earthquake. A previous sequence started in

1668 Events January–March * January 23 – The Triple Alliance of 1668 is formed between England, Sweden and the United Provinces of the Netherlands. * February 13 – In Lisbon, a peace treaty is established between Afonso ...

Earthquake

Based on extensive field investigations and the analysis of repeat

geodetic Geodesy or geodetics is the science of measuring and representing the geometry, gravity, and spatial orientation of the Earth in temporally varying 3D. It is called planetary geodesy when studying other astronomical bodies, such as planets ...

measurements, the earthquake's rupture is interpreted to extend from near Lake Abant in the west to Osmangölü in the east, a total of 191 km. The fault plane is interpreted to be near vertical, with an average width of 16 km. The average strike-slip component of displacement is 4.40 m, with a normal dip-slip component of 1.02 m. These parameters give a moment magnitude of 7.74. The maximum strike-slip offset of 7.16 m was measured near Gerede and this is thought to be close to the epicentre. The earthquake was followed by 22

aftershock In seismology, an aftershock is a smaller earthquake that follows a larger earthquake, in Epicenter, the same area of the Mainshock, main shock, caused as the displaced Crust (geology), crust adjusts to the effects of the main shock. Large earthq ...

s on the same day as the mainshock. The largest aftershock occurred on 11 February, with an epicentre close to that of the mainshock near Gerede. It was followed by many tremors including three strong shocks the following morning.

Damage

High levels of damage and large numbers of casualties occurred within a zone about 200 km long by 25 km wide, with Gerede being the most badly affected place. In Gerede, telegraph and telephone lines were badly damaged, disrupting communications with the rest of the country, in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake. Information was also slow to emerge from some of the surrounding villages due to the roads being blocked by continuous snowfalls. This wintry weather also delayed the arrival of relief supplies from Ankara, requiring soldiers to be deployed to clear the roads. Once aid supplies began to reach Gerede, the

Red Crescent The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human ...

set up a hospital.

References

External links

* 1944 Bolu 1944 earthquakes 1944 in Turkey History of Bolu Province February 1944 in Asia February 1944 in Europe 1944 disasters in Turkey {{Asia-earthquake-stub

Tectonic setting

Earthquake

Damage

See also

References

External links