The 2020 Mw 6.8 Elaziğ (Turkey) earthquake reveals rupture behavior of the East Anatolian Fault

The 2020 Mw 6.8 Elazig earthquake was the largest along the Eastern Anatolian Fault (EAF) in over a century and so provides valuable insights into its rupture behavior. Because the EAF is of low-to-intermediate structural maturity, this earthquake could also help refine the controls of cumulative fault offset on characteristics such as rupture velocity, shallow slip deficits, and afterslip. We use satellite geodesy and seismology to detail the mainshock rupture, postseismic deformation and aftershocks, and relations to previous earthquakes. The mainshock propagated bilaterally at ~2km/s from a nucleation point on an abrupt ~10° fault bend. Only one end of the rupture corresponds to an established EAF segment boundary, and the earthquake may have propagated into the slip zone of the 1874 M ~7.1 Golcuk Golu earthquake. It exhibits a pronounced (~80%) shallow slip deficit, only a small proportion of which is recovered by early aseismic afterslip.