Usefulness of Coulomb Static Stress Changes in Earthquake Hazard Studies: An Example from the Lake Van Area, Eastern Turkey

Abstract

It has been globally documented over different tectonic environments that Coulomb static stress changes caused by a mainshock can promote or demote stresses along the neighboring faults and thus triggers or delays following seismicity. In the present study Coulomb stress changes of the earthquakes in the Lake Van area are calculated using available data and the likely source faults. The calculated stress change maps demonstrate that the large earthquakes in the Lake Area are mostly stressed by the preceding earthquakes, suggesting earthquake rupture interactions. It is further suggested that Coulomb stress maps could be used for constraining the likely locations of the future large earthquakes and in the earthquake hazard mitigation studies.