Source Parameters for tsunami prone cities in Aegean Sea coastal areas of Turkey

This study was focused on earthquake induced tsunamis to prepare source parameters for accurate estimations of what would be the maximum heights and the shortest time of the arrival of the tsunami waves in Aegean Sea coastal areas of Turkey. Since the earthquake parameters available right after an earthquake are preliminary and not enough, calculations using preliminary parameters can lead to misleading results in tsunami wave modelling. For that reason, the geometries of the tsunamigenic sources in Aegean Sea have been examined to put in the effect of fault geometry and depths of earthquakes into the tsunami simulations. The accuracy of the fault geometry is directly dependent on the source parameters for the initial conditions of the tsunamis. In order to calculate the possible initial heights of tsunamis for the gridded areas in Aegean Sea, it was consider the source zones which are defined in accordance with the tectonic regime and where a single fault model can be credible. Each of the seismic sources is characterized by a representative focal mechanism examined and compiled from the previously published scientific literature. The results from the focal mechanism solutions show that the larger tsunamis would be much more effective in the southwestern coastal areas of Turkey such as Datça, Bodrum, Marmaris, Aksaz, Fethiye in the cases of low-angle thrust faults along the Hellenic arc system and South of Rhodes.