The first and most destructive of the 2020 Iran–Turkey earthquakes occurred on 23 February, near

Khoy Khoy (, ) is a city in the Central District (Khoy County), Central District of Khoy County, West Azerbaijan province, West Azerbaijan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Occupied since Medes, Median times, ...

in north-west

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, close to the border with Turkey, killing 9 people in

Başkale Başkale (, ) is a municipality and district of Van Province, Turkey. Its area is 2,727 km2, and its population is 44,168 (2022). The municipality Başkale was established in 1937. In the local elections of March 2019 Erkan Acar from the ...

, Van. It hit at 9:23 a.m. local time (05:53

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

) with a magnitude of 5.8 at a depth of 6 kilometres (3.7 miles) and the epicenter was Qotur district, according to the Iranian Seismological Center (IRSC). About 10 hours later the same area was hit by another major earthquake of 6.0 .

Tectonic setting

Northwestern Iran and easternmost Turkey lie within the zone of complex structure associated with the continuing

collision In physics, a collision is any event in which two or more bodies exert forces on each other in a relatively short time. Although the most common use of the word ''collision'' refers to incidents in which two or more objects collide with great for ...

between the Arabian plate and the Eurasian plate. On this part of the boundary the collision is quite oblique and the

thrust fault A thrust fault is a break in the Earth's crust, across which older rocks are pushed above younger rocks. Thrust geometry and nomenclature Reverse faults A thrust fault is a type of reverse fault that has a dip of 45 degrees or less. I ...

ing along the front of the

Zagros fold and thrust belt The Zagros fold and thrust belt (Zagros FTB) is an approximately long zone of deformed crustal rocks, formed in the foreland of the collision between the Arabian plate and the Eurasian plate. It is host to one of the world's largest petroleum ...

is accompanied by a series of NW–SE trending dextral (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 ...

s, such as the North Tabriz Fault and the Gailatu–Siah Chesh-meh–Khoy Fault. Normal faults are developed at terminations and releasing bends on the strike-slip faults. The entire fault system is

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 ...

and has been associated with many destructive earthquakes.

Earthquakes

The first of the larger earthquakes had a magnitude of 5.8 with a depth of 10 km ( ANSS), 5.8 with a depth of 8 km (

KOERI The Koeri (spelt as Koiry or Koiri), also referred to as Kushwaha and more recently self-described as Maurya in several parts of northern India are an Indian non-elite caste, found largely in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, whose traditional oc ...

), or 5.7 with a depth of 6 km (Iranian Seismological Center (IRSC)). It was followed just over 10 hours later by the second event, which had a magnitude of 6.0 with a depth of 10 km (ANSS), 5.8 with a depth of 5 km (KOERI), or 5.9 with a depth of 12 km (IRSC).

Damage

The area of significant damage stretched from the city of Van in the west to

in Iran to the east. More than 1,000 buildings were destroyed in Turkey, with many others damaged in 43 affected villages in Iran. The Turkish health ministry reported that nine people had died, four of them children, with another 66 injured. 75 people were reported injured in Iran. No further casualties have been reported in Turkey following the 6.0 earthquake. Death toll climbed to 10 when a teenager later died in the hospital.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2020 Iran-Turkey earthquakes Iran-Turkey 2020 disasters in Iran 2020 natural disasters February 2020 in Iran History of Khoy Gormec February 2020 in Asia Khoy County 2020 disasters in Turkey February 2020 in Turkey 2020 in Turkey 2020 in Iran

Tectonic setting

Earthquakes

Damage

See also

References