2001/07/15 by Michel Bouchon, Marie‐Paule Bouin, Hayrullah Karabulut +3 · 2 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Computer Science · #earthquake and tectonic studies #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Seismology and Earthquake Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1029/2001gl013112
openalex publication_date 2001/07/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
We report that during the two devastating 1999 earthquakes in Turkey, rupture propagated over a large part of the nearly 200km long fault zone at supershear speed approaching 5km/s. We present observations and modeling which confirm the original inference of supershear rupture during the Izmit earthquake and we show that supershear rupture also occurred during the Düzce earthquake. We show that the rupture velocity measured—about times the shear wave velocity—is the value predicted by theoretical studies in fracture dynamics. We look for clues to explain these observations.