1981 Golbaf earthquake

Earthquake in Kerman County, Iran 1981 Golbaf earthquake Iran 1981-06-11 07:24:25 625020 iscgem625020 1981 06 11 10:54:25 IRST 6.6 w y 6.7 s 7 18 km mi 0 on 29.91 57.83 region:AU_type:event inline,title Strike-slip and reverseBerberian Jackson Ghorashi Kadjar 1984 814 $5 million VIIIBerberian 2014 611 NoBerberian Jackson Ghorashi Kadjar 1984 814 3,000 dead 1,400 injuredBerberian 2014 611 The 1981 Golbaf earthquake struck the Iranian desert by the village of Golbaf on June 11 at 10:54:25 local time 07:24:25 UTC. The shock measured 6.6 on the moment magnitude scale, and had a surface-wave magnitude of 6.7. The shock had a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). Many villages were devastated and financial losses amounted to $5 million (in 1981 USD). Despite the sparsity of the area, 3,000 were killed and 1,400 were injured. Tectonic setting Eastern Iran is moving at a rate of approximately 15 mm on/yr with respect to Afghanistan. To accommodate this, the 600 km on north-south trending Sabzevaran-Gowk-Nayband fault system began to develop in the western margin of the Dasht-e Lut.Fattahi Walker Talebian Sloan 2014 334Walker Jackson 2002 1679 The Gowk fault is a north-northwest trending fault that extends for over 150-180 km on across the Lut Desert in Kerman Province, Iran.Berberian Jackson Ghorashi Kadjar 1984 814Walker Talebian Sloan Rasheedi 2010 222 The fault moves dextrally and reverse, and has slipped at a rate of around 3.1-5.7 mm on/yr for the past 6-8 kyr.kyr thousand yearsBerberian Jackson Ghorashi Kadjar 1984 814Walker Talebian Sloan Rasheedi 2010 221Fattahi Walker Talebian Sloan 2014 335 With a strike of 155 degrees, the Gowk fault does not orient itself parallel with the slip in the region. As a result, the Shahdad Thrust system takes up the shortening component of regional slip.Walker Jackson 2002 1679-1680 The Gowk fault is very active, generating multiple other destructive earthquakes such as the 1981 Sirch earthquake.Fattahi Walker Talebian Sloan 2014 334 Despite this activity, a ~90-100 km on segment in the south of the fault (Sarvestan segment) has remain unbroken, leading to a high potential hazard for future earthquakes.Fattahi Walker Talebian Sloan 2014 334Walker Talebian Sloan Rasheedi 2010 221 Earthquake The w 6.6 y, s 6.7 y shock struck near the village of Golbaf at 10:54:25 local time 07:24:25 UTC. The earthquake had a maximum Modified Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe).Berberian 2014 611 The complex rupture extended across at least 15 km on of the Gowk fault system.Berberian Jackson Ghorashi Kadjar 1984 809 An eastern segment slipped 3 cm on dextrally and 5 cm on vertically over a 14.5 km on span. A western segment had little offset over a 7.5 km on rupture, but fissured along its length.Berberian Jackson Ghorashi Kadjar 1984 814 These surficial displacements are far smaller than would be expected for an earthquake of this size, but this can be explained by the depth of the earthquake.Berberian Jackson Fielding Parsons 2001 389 Average slip at depth was estimated to be 1.4 m on.Nalbant Steacy McCloskey 2006 311 The earthquake led to a static stress increase of 3.4 bar on the southern Sarvestan segment of the Gowk fault.Nalbant Steacy McCloskey 2006 312 Additionally, an increase of up to 2 bars to the north helped trigger the later 1981 Sirch earthquake.Nalbant Steacy McCloskey 2006 316 Aftershocks The earthquake had a few b 4 y+ aftershocks for the next couple weeks, but seismicity was not well recorded by teleseismic observations.Berberian Jackson Ghorashi Kadjar 1984 821 A month and a half after the mainshock, on July 28, the 1981 Sirch earthquake struck along the Gowk fault in a similar area. Despite nucleating in the same area, it ruptured in a completely different direction, with the rupture zones having no overlap.Berberian Jackson Ghorashi Kadjar 1984 835 It caused further destruction to the already severely damaged villages nearby, though killed much fewer people as the populace was living in tents after the original shock.Berberian Jackson Ghorashi Kadjar 1984 816-817 Impact The strong earthquake left 3,000 injured and 1,400 killed.Berberian 2014 611 Every village in the Golbaf depression was devastated.Berberian Jackson Ghorashi Kadjar 1984 814 Losses were estimated at US$5 million (in 1981 dollars). See also List of earthquakes in 1981 List of earthquakes in Iran 1981 Sirch earthquake Notes References OB 625020 Significant Earthquake Database https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/nndc/struts/form?t=101650&s=1&d=1 https://web.archive.org/web/20060929000601/http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/nndc/struts/form?t=101650&s=1&d=1 dead September 29, 2006 National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS) National Geophysical Data Center, NOAA 10.7289/V5TD9V7K 1972 Data Set M 6.7 - 73 km SE of Kerman, Iran https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/iscgem625020/executive United States Geological Survey 26 June 2025 Sources Earthquakes and Coseismic Surface Faulting on the Iranian Plateau https://books.google.com/books?id=_ur1AgAAQBAJ M. Berberian Manuel Berberian 2014 Developments in Earth Surface Processes 1st Elsevier 978-0444632920 1-714 Berberian M. Jackson J. A. Fielding E. Parsons B. E. Priestley K. Qorashi M. Talebian M. Walker R. Wright T. J. Baker C. The 1998 March 14 Fandoqa earthquake (Mw 6.6) in Kerman province, southeast Iran: re-rupture of the 1981 Sirch earthquake fault, triggering of slip on adjacent thrusts and the active tectonics of the Gowk fault zone Geophysical Journal International 2 August 2001 146 2 371-398 10.1046/j.1365-246x.2001.01459.x https://academic.oup.com/gji/article/146/2/371/639688 27 June 2025 Berberian M. Jackson J. A. Ghorashi M. Kadjar M. H. Field and teleseismic observations of the 1981 Golbaf-Sirch earthquakes in SE Iran Geophysical Journal International 3 June 1984 77 3 809-839 10.1111/j.1365-246X.1984.tb02223.x https://academic.oup.com/gji/article/77/3/809/609490 27 June 2025 Fattahi M. Walker R. T. Talebian M. Sloan R. A. Rasheedi A. Late Quaternary active faulting and landscape evolution in relation to the Gowk Fault in the South Golbaf Basin, S.E. Iran Geomorphology 1 January 2014 204 334-343 10.1016/j.geomorph.2013.08.017 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169555X13004224 27 June 2025 0169-555X subscription Nalbant Suleyman S. Steacy Sandy McCloskey John Stress transfer relations among the earthquakes that occurred in Kerman province, southern Iran since 1981 Geophysical Journal International 1 October 2006 167 1 309-318 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2006.03119.x https://academic.oup.com/gji/article/167/1/309/606266 27 June 2025 Walker Richard Jackson James Offset and evolution of the Gowk fault, S.E. Iran: a major intra-continental strike-slip system Journal of Structural Geology 1 November 2002 24 11 1677-1698 10.1016/S0191-8141(01)00170-5 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191814101001705 27 June 2025 subscription Walker R. T. Talebian M. Sloan R. A. Rasheedi A. Fattahi M. Bryant C. Holocene slip-rate on the Gowk strike-slip fault and implications for the distribution of tectonic strain in eastern Iran Geophysical Journal International April 2010 181 1 221-228 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2010.04538.x https://academic.oup.com/gji/article/181/1/221/716094 27 June 2025 External links 625020 Category:1981 earthquakes Category:Earthquakes in Iran Category:1981 in Iran Category:History of Kerman province Category:June 1981 in Asia