What caused Monday's earthquake in Antioch?

Monday evening, at 7:04 PM, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 struck near Antioch, in the Turkish Iskenderun district, close to the Syrian coast, at a depth of ten km and ten km away from the Mediterranean coast.

The point where the tremor occurred is 140 km away from the site of the first earthquake on February 6. The Antoich earthquake is closer to Syria and Lebanon, and the tremor's epicenter is less than 80 km from Syria's Latakia and less than 200 km from Lebanon's Tripoli.

The earthquake's epicenter is located in a geologically complex region known as the Marash Triple Junction, the boundary point between the Anatolian, African, and Arabian tectonic plates.

In this region, three seismic faults are active;

The East Anatolian Fault is the boundary between the Anatolian Plate and the Arabian Plate, and the first earthquake, which happened on February 4, shook it. 

The Dead Sea fault is the boundary between the Arabian and African plates; the faults of Lebanon are part of it.

The Cypriot Arc is the boundary between the Anatolian and African plates.

Is the tremor in Antoich caused by the first earthquake near Gaziantep, even though its epicenter is 140 km away?

Many Turkish and European experts conclude that this is certain. 

Here is the updated map of Coulomb stress transfer due to Mw 7.8 and 7.6 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes with additional faults nearby. #TurkeySyriaEarthquake #TurkeyQuake @AktifTektonik pic.twitter.com/gp9sGMB3rC

— Ziyadin Çakır (@ziyadin) February 21, 2023

A map issued by Istanbul Technical University showcased a preliminary analysis after February 6 of how it is possible that the original quake reduced or increased the stress or pressure on other parts of the Anatolian Fault and the faults nearby in the region.

The map indicated that the pressure on the Anatolian fault eased, and therefore the possibility of strong earthquakes on it became less.

However, it was clear that the South-western end of the Anatolian Fault and the beginning of the Cypriot Arc, which extends from Antioch towards Cyprus and off the coast of Lebanon, witnessed an increase in pressure near Antioch, which is where Monday's quake shook.  


As for the Dead Sea Fault, which extends from Antioch towards Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan, the pressure on the northern part of it increased very lightly.

In conclusion, will Monday's earthquake be followed by other tremors on the Cypriot Arc or the Dead Sea Fault, both of which impact Lebanon? Experts cannot say for sure because no one can expect earthquakes, but monitoring this area is essential in the forthcoming period. It would not be strange if more tremors occurred. Still, no one can predict earthquakes, their strength, or their potential damage, so citizens should not listen to rumors and must only take the recommended precautions when feeling any tremor.