Undersea acoustic telemetry across the North Anatolian Fault, Marmara Sea: results from the first 6 months of monitoring of the fault displacement

Located in the Marmara Sea, the Istanbul-Silivri segment of the North Anatolian Fault (NAF) is known to be a seismic gap since 1766, although, in the last century, the NAF has caused major devastating earthquakes over most of its extent. This fault segment, void of seismicity, may be either creeping aseismically or blocked and accumulating enough strain to produce an earthquake of magnitude 7 or greater. This section of the NAF may thus represent a major seismic and tsunamigenic hazard for the Istanbul megalopolis, located only 40 km away. The objective of the MARSITE project, funded by the European Union and coordinated by the Observatory of the University of Kandilli (KOERI), is to determine the blocking state of the Istanbul-Silivri fault segment. In this context, an array of 10 acoustic transponders has been deployed on either sides of the fault, in the eastern part of the Kumburgaz Basin, to measure the displacements of the fault over a period of 3 to 5 years. The telemetric beacons (4 from the University of Brest and 6 from the GEOMAR Institute in Kiel) form two arrays fitted in one another. The principle of the experiment is to repeatedly measure the distance (ie two-way-travel time of acoustic pings) between pairs of beacons and thus to monitor the deformation of an array of 9 baselines, 500m to 3000m long, of which 5 cross obliquely the assumed fault trace. The French and German arrays are independent but ensure a redundancy of rangings along common baselines. Each acoustic transponder also monitors the temperature, pressure, sound-velocity and attitude (tiltmeters), every one or two hours. Data are stored in each beacon and can be downloaded from the surface using an acoustic modem. We present here the first 6 months of recording by the French array, from November 1st, 2014 to April 25, 2015. All acoustic transponders worked nominally for 6 months and appear to have remained stable on the seafloor. Recorded sea-bottom temperatures provide evidence for transient changes likely due to episodic flows of deep colder water across the Kumburgaz Basin. Pressure records display diurnal variations related to the tides. Both parameters affect the sound-velocity and thus the acoustic ranges, and are used to correct the baselines.