Rapid Earthquake Research

For geoscientists to assess hazards and understand how faults work, they sometimes must infer whether fault-zone rocks observed in the field deformed during an earthquake or while slipping slowly in-between events. To improve these interpretations and better address earthquake hazards, Dr. Alexis Ault and Dr. Dennis Newell have taken advantage of an unprecedented opportunity to document and sample rocks, sediment, water, and gas from two recent, catastrophic earthquake surface ruptures. Ault and Newell, together with a colleague from Cal State Fullerton, were awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) “RAPID” grant to study the devastating February 2023, MW 7.8 and MW 7.6, Kahramanmaraş earthquakes in Turkey.

Traveling to Turkey in August 2023, Ault was able to sample the still-preserved rupture interface of the MW 7.6 event and Newell surveyed gas (CO2) flux from along the rupture. Newell returned to Turkey in November 2023 and June 2024 to repeat the CO2 flux surveys. Their observations demonstrate that the surface ruptures exploited pre-existing damaged rock from past earthquakes, and they suggest the rapidly declining gas flux along the rupture may reflect decreasing permeability as the fault heals following the earthquake. Their observations, data, and experiences have laid the foundation for a major proposal to NSF Frontier Research in Earth Sciences program, which received funding in July.