ASSESSING OF EARTHQUAKE ACTIVITY IN THE EAST ANATOLIAN PART OF TURKEY A GENERAL OVERVIEW TO THE MAIN SEISMOTECTONIC PARAMETERS

In this study, a region-time analysis of seismicity in the East Anatolian part of Turkey is carried out by considering the recent changes in seismotectonic b-value, fractal dimension Dc-value, seismic quiescence Z-value, annual probability and recurrence time of earthquakes. Magnitude completeness is computed as 2.8 and b-value is estimated as 1.12+/-0.07. This b-value of East Anatolian earthquakes is well represented by the Gutenberg-Richter law. Dc-value is calculated as 1.87+/-0.03 and this high Dc-value indicates that seismicity in the East Anatolian region is more clustered at larger scales or in smaller areas. Recurrence times of earthquake occurrences show that East Anatolian region has a noticeable seismic hazard for the possibility of strong earthquake occurrences. Some clear anomaly areas of low b-value and high Z-value are observed at the beginning of 2018. It is clear that there is an important earthquake potential in the East Anatolian part of Turkey in the intermediate-term.