Spring water anomalies before two consecutive earthquakes (Mw 7.7 and Mw 7.6) in Kahramanmaraş (Türkiye) on 6 February 2023


İnan S., ÇETİN H., Yakupoğlu N.

Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, cilt.24, sa.2, ss.397-409, 2024 (SCI-Expanded) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 24 Sayı: 2
  • Basım Tarihi: 2024
  • Doi Numarası: 10.5194/nhess-24-397-2024
  • Dergi Adı: Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Aerospace Database, Agricultural & Environmental Science Database, Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), CAB Abstracts, Environment Index, Geobase, Pollution Abstracts, Veterinary Science Database, Directory of Open Access Journals, Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.397-409
  • Çukurova Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Understanding earthquake phenomena is always challenging. The search for reliable precursors of earthquakes is important but requires systematic and long-time monitoring employing multi-disciplinary techniques. In search of possible precursors, we obtained commercially bottled spring waters dated before and after the earthquakes of 6 February 2023. Hydrogeochemical precursors have been detected in commercially bottled natural spring waters (Ayran Spring and Bahçeplnar Spring), which are at a distance of about 100 and 175km from the epicenters of the Mw 7.7 and Mw 7.6 Kahramanmaraş (Türkiye) earthquakes of 6 February 2023, respectively. The available water samples cover the period from March 2022 to March 2023. The pre-earthquake anomaly is characterized by an increase in electrical conductivity and major ions (Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Na+, Cl-, and SO42-) compared to the background for Ayran Spring water samples. The pre-earthquake anomaly lasted for at least 6 months. The anomaly in major ions sharply declined and the ion content approached the background values about 2 weeks after the earthquakes. Although only 6.5km away from the Ayran Spring, the bottled water samples of the Bahçeplnar Spring did not show any anomalies in electrical conductivity; therefore, the samples were not analyzed for ion content. Bahçeplnar water is collected from shallow boreholes dug into alluvial deposits, which we believe are decoupled from the basement rocks, and this may be the reason for the lack of abnormal water chemistry prior to the earthquakes. This attests to the fact that sampling locations are very important in the detection of possible earthquake precursors. Results of the Ayran spring water samples indicate that spring water chemical anomalies of discrete samples may provide valuable information on pre-earthquake crustal deformation. Monitoring of spring waters, along with other monitoring techniques in a multidisciplinary network, and for a sufficiently long time, could potentially enable obtaining reliable proxy indicators of pre-earthquake crustal deformation.