Monitoring seismic activity in and around the Eastern Anatolian fault zone by analyzing the geoelectric variations

This study aims to monitor the seismic activity occurring in and around the Eastern Anatolian Fault Zone in relation to geoelectric variations. Physical and chemical changes in the Earth's crust prior to earthquakes are known to manifest themselves as geoelectric anomalies. In this context, using the measurements made at the GEO_MUK station located on the Harran University Campus, geoelectric signals that may be related to the aftershocks that occurred during the aftershocks of the February 6, 2023 Kahramanmaraş Earthquakes and the aftershocks that occurred in the 30-day period afterwards, and the data of the TUBITAK project No. 122Y365 titled Monitoring of Seismic Activities in and around the Eastern Anatolian Fault Zone and Investigation of the Feasibility of Establishing an Earthquake Early Warning System by Analysis of Geoelectric Variationsand the data of 2024 were analyzed. In the study, spectral analysis techniques such as Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and Welch method were applied to evaluate the geoelectric variations in time-frequency space. The findings show that certain significant frequencies occur in the 0 – 0.04Hz and 0.15 – 0.20Hz ranges and that these anomalies become evident before the earthquake. In addition, in order to determine the effect of geomagnetic storms on geoelectric variations, analysis was performed using the Kp index and it was found that the observed anomalies were independent of geomagnetic storms. As a result, the findings reveal that geoelectric signals can be a potential indicator for short-term earthquake prediction. This study aims to provide a scientific basis that can contribute to the development of early warning systems in earthquake-prone regions such as Turkey. The data for the year 2024 used in this thesis study were supported by the TUBITAK ÇAYDAG project number 122Y365.