The 2022 MW 6.0 Gölyaka-Düzce earthquake: an example of a medium size earthquake in a fault zone early in its seismic cycle

On November 23rd 2022, a MW 6.0 earthquake occurred in direct vicinity of the MW 7.1 Düzce earthquake that ruptured a portion of the North Anatolian Fault in 1999. The Mw 6.0 event was attributed to a small fault portion of the Karadere segment that did not rupture during the 1999 sequence. We analyze the spatio-temporal evolution of the MW 6.0 Gölyaka-Düzce seismic sequence at various scales and resolve the source properties of the mainshock. Modelling the decade-long evolution of background seismicity of the Karadere Fault employing an Epistemic Type Aftershock Sequence model shows that this fault was almost seismically inactive before 1999, while a progressive increase in seismic activity is observed from 2000 onwards. A newly generated high-resolution seismicity catalog from 1 month before the mainshock until six days after created using Artificial Intelligence-aided techniques shows only few events occurring within the rupture area within the previous month, no spatio-temporal localization process and a lack of immediate foreshocks preceding the rupture. The aftershock hypocenter distribution suggests the activation of both the Karadere fault which ruptured in this earthquake as well as the Düzce fault that ruptured in 1999. First results on source parameters and the duration of the first P-wave pulse from the mainshock suggest that the mainshock propagated eastwards in agreement with predictions from a bimaterial interface model. The MW 6.0 Gölyaka-Düzce represents a good example of an earthquake rupture with damaging potential within a fault zone that is in a relatively early stage of the seismic cycle.