Kenan Akbayram, Kemal Kıranşan , Çağlar Özer , Sadık Varolgüneş 

The 2020 Mw 6.8 Doğanyol-Sivrice earthquake occurred on the Pütürge Segment of the left-lateral East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ). Our field investigation within 6 weeks after the earthquake suggests the following results. (1) The 2020 earthquake created a ~54-km-long surface deformation zone along the Pütürge Segment. (2) No co-seismic surface slip has been formed after the earthquake. (3) The deformation zone consisted of intense ground fissures, rock falls, landslides, liquefaction of various lengths mostly occurred along fault traces mapped in previous active fault investigations. When we have evaluated our field findings together with the previous historical and instrumental earthquake data the following results on the long-term behavior of the EAFZ have been determined. The significant co-seismic offset (between 2.0 and 4.5 meters) only forms when the earthquake magnitudes reach Mw 7.0 along the EAFZ. In the last 160 years, ~300-km-long part of the EAFZ ruptured with 7 major earthquakes (6.7≤Ms≤7.2). The ~130-km-long part of the EAFZ still remains a seismic gap. Here we name the two most important seismic gaps of the EAFZ as the Kahramanmaraş and the Bingöl Seismic Gaps.