INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IONOSPHERIC TEC ANOMALY VARIATIONS AND FAULT TYPES BEFORE THE EARTHQUAKES

Abstract. Earthquakes are natural phenomena that shake the earth and cause many damage. Since the time of arrival of the earthquakes cannot be determined directly, some signs before the earthquake should be examined and interpreted by examining the environmental changes. One of the methods used for this is monitoring the ionospheric total electron content (TEC) changes in total electron content unit (TECU). GPS satellites have begun to be used as a means of monitoring ionospheric TEC anomalies before earthquakes since they began to be used as sensors around the world. In this study, three fault type (normal, thrust and strike-slip faulting) of 28 earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 7 (Mw) and the percentage changes of TEC anomalies before the earthquakes were investigated. The ionospheric TEC anomalies before the earthquake were calculated according to the 15-day running median statistical analysis method. Different solar and geomagnetic indices have been investigated to determine the active space weather conditions and quiet days before and after the earthquake. The TEC anomalies were determined during the quiet days before the earthquake by comparing the ionospheric anomalies that occurred before the earthquake after the determination of quiet days with the indices of the space weather conditions. The results show that there is a relationship between fault type and the earthquake precursor percentage changes and were determined as 47.6 % TECU for regions where normal faulting, 50.4 % TECU for regions where thrust faulting, and 44.2 % TECU for regions where strike-slip faulting occurred, respectively.