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| Date | September 10, 1509 |
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| Magnitude | 7.2 Ms |
| Epicenter | [1] |
| Countries or regions | Turkey |
| Casualties | 10,000 |
The 1509 Istanbul earthquake, referred to as "The Lesser Judgment Day" by contemporaries, was an earthquake that occurred in the Sea of Marmara on September 10, 1509 at about 10 p.m.. The earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 7.2 ± 0.3 on the surface wave magnitude scale.[2] Forty-five days of aftershocks followed the earthquake, as well as a tsunami. Over a thousand houses and 109 mosques were destroyed, and an estimated 10,000 people died.
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The Sea of Marmara is a pull apart basin formed at a releasing bend in the North Anatolian Fault, a right-lateral strike-slip fault. This local zone of extension occurs where this transform boundary between the Anatolian Plate and the Eurasian Plate step northwards to the west of Izmit from the Izmit Fault to the Ganos Fault. The pattern of faults within the Sea of Marmara basin is complex but near Istanbul there is a single main fault segment with a sharp bend. To the west, the fault trends west-east and is pure strike-slip in type. To the east, the fault is NW-SE trending and show evidence of both normal and strike-slip motion.[3] Movement on this fault, which bounds the Çınarcık Basin, is the most likely cause of the 1509 event.[2]
The area of significant damage (intensity ≥ 7) extended from Çorlu in the west to Izmit in the east. Galata and Büyükçekmece also suffered severe damage. In Istanbul many houses collapsed, chimneys fell and walls were cracked. The newly built Bayezid II Mosque was badly damaged, the main dome was destroyed and a minaret collapsed. The Fatih Mosque suffered damage to its four great columns and the dome was split. The former church of Hagia Sophia survived almost unscathed although a minaret collapsed. Inside the mosque, the plaster that had been used to cover up the Byzantine mosaics inside the dome fell off, revealing the Christian images.[2]
The number of dead and injured is hard to estimate, with different sources giving widely varying accounts from 1,000 to 13,000. It's also believed that some members of the Ottoman dynasty died in this earthquake too. Earthquake shocks continued 45 days after the big earthquake. After the earthquake people were not able to turn back their homes for 2 months.
From the area and intensity of shaking, a 70 km (43 mi) fault rupture has been estimated.[2]
A tsunami is mentioned in some source with a run-up of >6.0 m (19.7 ft), but discounted in others.[2] A turbidite bed has been recognised in the Çınarcık Basin, whose deposition matches the date of the earthquake.[4]