Monitoring aseismic creep trend in Ismetpasa and Destek segments throughout the NAF with a large scale GPS network

Abstract. North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) is an intersection area between Anatolian and Eurasian plates. Also another plate is responsible for this formation, Arabian plate, which squeezes the Anatolian plate from the south between Eurasian plate and itself. Block boundaries, forming the faults, generally locked to the bottom of seismogenic layer because of the friction between blocks, and responsible for these discharges. However, there are also some unique events observed around the world, which may cause partially or fully free slipping faults. This phenomenon is called aseismic creep, and may occur through the entire seismogenic zone or at least to some depths and is a rare event in the world, with two reported segments along the North Anatolian Fault (NAF): Ismetpasa and Destek. In this study, we established GPS networks covering these segments and made three campaigns between 2014–2016. Considering the long term geodetic movements of the blocks (Anatolian and Eurasian plates), previous studies for each segment, calculated surface velocities and fault parameters; aseismic creep still continues to some rates, 13.2±3.3 mm/year at Ismetpasa and 9.6±3.1 mm/year at Destek. Results indicates that this aseismic creep behavior will not prevent a medium-large scale earthquake in the long term.