Seismic Activity of the Manisa Fault Zone in Western Turkey Constrained by Cosmogenic 36Cl Dating

This study reports on the cosmogenic 36Cl dating of two normal fault scarps in western Turkey, that of the Manastir and Mugirtepe faults, beyond existing historical records. These faults are elements of the western Manisa Fault Zone (MFZ) in the seismically active Gediz Graben. Our modeling revealed that the Manastir fault underwent at least two surface ruptures at 3.5 ± 0.9 ka and 2.0 ± 0.5 ka, with vertical displacements of 3.3 ± 0.5 m and 3.6 ± 0.5 m, respectively. An event at 6.5 ± 1.6 ka with a vertical displacement of 2.7 ± 0.4 m was reconstructed on the Mugirtepe fault. We attribute these earthquakes to the recurring MFZ ruptures, when also the investigated faults slipped. We calculated average slip rates of 1.9 and 0.3 mm yr−1 for the Manastir and Mugirtepe faults, respectively.