You are here: Home » Research & Monitoring » EQ Geology & Paleoseismology » 1999 Izmit, Turkey Earthquake » September 2, 1999

September 2, 1999

USGS Fault Rupture from Izmit Earthquake, Set 2

Tom Fumal, USGS

Here are 9 new photographs of fault rupture taken by the earthquake geologists in our field team.

  • Fault scarp.

    0.9 m high scarp with lateral offset of 1.9 m. Local changes in fault geometry are believed to have caused the vertical component across fault.

  • Faulted barn.

    This barn is faulted through the middle; the moletrack is seen in the foreground with the viewer standing on the fault. From the air one can see metal roof panels of the barn that rotated as the barn was faulted.

  • Offset topographic humps.

    Topographic humps offset by the fault reveal stratigraphy. Bridge in background was knocked down during earthquake.

  • Offset dike.

    A dike is offset 2.3 m.

  • Offset tree.

    A close-up shot of a tree that was actually split into two by faulting. The tree records 0.8 m of offset, a larger view reveals that across the entire fault zone, offset is 3 m.

  • Offset stream bank of the Sakarya River.

    The offset stream bank of the Sakarya River. The tree lines record an offset of 3.3 m.

  • Offset highway guardrail.

    The fault trends through a highway overpass (which did not fail), causing the guardrail to be offset ~2.8 m.

  • Moletrack showing extensional and compressional components of the rupture.

    Moletrack showing well-expressed extensional and compressional components of the rupture.

  • Fault through a pasture.

    The fault is clearly expressed through this pasture at N40 41.959', E030 30.196'. Offset of a small road is 2.4 m (a maximum).