Number of earthquakes recorded in Kütahya's Simav in the last 1.5 months causes concern

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer Özburan, a faculty member at the Department of Geological Engineering at Kütahya Dumlupınar University's Faculty of Engineering, stated that 1,350 earthquakes have been recorded in the Simav district of Kütahya since the beginning of 2025, adding, "1,250 of these tremors occurred in the last 1.5 months."

Özburan said that the seismic activity in the Simav district, which began with a 4.3-magnitude earthquake on April 21, is continuing.

Stating that seismic activity in the region has increased again in recent days, Özburan noted the following:

"The most recent 4.5-magnitude earthquake that occurred in Simav on Tuesday, June 10, was felt in many places. Since the first 4.3-magnitude earthquake on April 21, 8 tremors above 4.0 have been recorded, the largest being 4.6. We see that these earthquakes do not exceed a magnitude of 4.6. In classic tectonic earthquakes, a main shock occurs and continues with decreasing magnitude, but such a situation is not the case with the earthquakes here."

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Özburan reminded that the earthquakes are occurring in an area between the Simav Fault Zone, the Emet-Gediz Fault Zone, and the Naşa Fault Zone.

"THE EARTHQUAKE SWARM IN THE REGION MAY CONTINUE"

Emphasizing that the seismic activity in the region is an "earthquake swarm," Özburan used the expression, "1,350 tremors have been recorded in the region since the beginning of the year. 1,250 of these tremors occurred in the last 1.5 months. Because there are so many tremors, we can call this an 'earthquake swarm'. We estimate that this earthquake swarm will continue."

Muzaffer Özburan touched upon the possibility that the earthquakes could be geothermal in origin, and continued as follows:

"When we examine the literature, we know that earthquakes reaching a magnitude of 4.5 have occurred. Similar examples have been experienced in studies conducted around America and Southern California. We think that the earthquakes in Simav could be geothermal in origin. We can give the definitive answer after the studies are completed."

Özburan added that the region where the seismic activity is taking place does not appear on the current active fault map, but that the earthquakes are occurring in the same orientation as the north-west, south-east trending Naşa Fault Zone.