M6.7 earthquake 7 km ENE of Lice, Turkey

Saturday, September 6, 1975, 09:20:10 UTC · 38.474°N, 40.723°E

A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck 7 km ENE of Lice, Turkey on Saturday, September 6, 1975, 09:20:10 UTC, at a depth of 26.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.8 on August 19, 1966.

Magnitude: 6.7; Strong · ms
Depth: 26 km; Shallow
Felt reports: 0; Did You Feel It?
Est. shaking: VIII; Severe (ShakeMap)
PAGER alert: None; Not issued
Tsunami: No flag; USGS feed

Outlined circle: this earthquakeDashed circle: 100 km aftershock search areaColoured lines: estimated shaking intensity (USGS ShakeMap)

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

169 kilotons of TNT

That is about 11 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 355 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

44 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Anatolian and Arabian plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.

Depth: shallow

26 km

Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.

Did You Feel It?

Where it was felt

No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.

I felt it — report to USGS ↗

USGS PAGER estimate

Who was exposed to shaking

USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.

After the main event

Aftershocks within 100 km

USGS lists 16 M2.5+ earthquakes within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.2 on September 6, 1975. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 86 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 43 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 65,688 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1939M7.8
Erzincan
26 Dec 1939 · 187 km away · intensity XII
32,700 deaths$20 million damagetsunami
1859M6.1
Erzurum
2 Jun 1859 · 166 km away
15,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
1784
Erzurum,Erzincan
23 Jul 1784 · 172 km away
5,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
1903M6.3
Malazgirt
28 Apr 1903 · 169 km away · intensity X
3,560 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
1966M6.8
Varto
19 Aug 1966 · 112 km away · intensity IX
2,394 deaths$20 million damage
1975M6.7
Lice
6 Sep 1975 · 0 km away · intensity IX
2,311 deaths$17 million damage

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

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