How frequent are earthquakes in Turkey?

Turkey has a high level of seismic activity. Based on data from the past 25 years and our earthquake archive back to 1900, there are about 28,000 quakes on average per year in Turkey. Turkey has had at least 35 quakes above magnitude 7 since 1900, which suggests that larger earthquakes of this size occur infrequently, probably on average approximately every 1 to 5 years.

How many earthquakes occur every year in Turkey?

On average, Turkey has about 1,500 quakes of magnitude 3 or higher per year (Mag 4+: 228 quakes per year, Mag 5+: 10.8 quakes per year).

Volcanoes of or near Turkey (25)

Go to: Eruptions FAQ Quakes News

[hide/show quakes] | [smaller] [bigger]

Significant volcanic eruptions: Turkey

In historic times, at least 3 volcanoes have been active in Turkey, including Tendürek Dağ, Ararat, and Nemrut Dagi volcanoes. A total of 6 eruptions have been witnessed and documented since around 1111 AD.
The table below lists volcanic eruptions, significant eruptive episodes or related events in Turkey during geologically recent times.

Date	Volcano	VEI	Region
1855	Tendürek Dağ	?	Turkey
1840 Jul 2	Ararat Upper northern flank	3?	Turkey
1650 AD Oct 27	Nemrut Dagi East flank (Lake Van)	?	Turkey
1597 or before AD	Nemrut Dagi	?	Turkey
1441 AD	Nemrut Dagi North flank (Nemrut Boynu)	?	Turkey
1111 AD	Nemrut Dagi East flank (Lake Van)	?	Turkey

Remark:

Our list of volcanic eruptions closely follows the database of eruptions of the Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Project (GVP), the internationally most recognized data source for volcanic eruptions, but also includes significant eruptive episodes or related volcano events. "Volcanic eruptions" are usually to be understood as sequences of individual eruptive episodes that can follow each other, or even overlap (if several vents are involved), and can last many years, decades or even longer. For example, the current activity of Stromboli volcano is understood as a single eruption that has been ongoing since 1934.

Sources: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), Global Significant Volcanic Eruptions Database. doi:10.7289/V5TD9V7K | Global Volcanism Project / Smithsonian Institution

Turkey FAQ

+When was the last volcanic eruption in Turkey?

The last volcanic eruption in Turkey was from Tendürek Dağ volcano in 1855.

+When was the first documented volcanic eruption in Turkey?

The first historically documented eruption occurred around 1111 AD from Nemrut Dagi volcano.

+How often do volcanoes in Turkey erupt?

Since 1111 AD, Turkey has seen at least 6 historically documented eruptions. This means that a volcano erupts on average every 152 years.

+When was the largest volcanic eruption in Turkey?

The largest eruption in Turkey in historic times was from Ararat volcano. It occurred in 1840. It ranks as a "vulcanian" eruption with a magnitude 3 on the VEI (Volcanic Explosivity Index) scale.

Latest earthquakes: Turkey

In the past 7 days, Turkey has had 2 quakes of magnitude 4.0 or above, 20 quakes between 3.0 and 4.0, and 128 quakes between 2.0 and 3.0. There were also 565 quakes below magnitude 2.0 which people don't normally feel.

A magnitude 4.0 quake was felt in Sea of Marmara, Turkey .

Magnitude 4.0 Earthquake Sea of Marmara, Turkey widely felt -

Date and Time	Mag / Depth	Nearest Volcano / Location
May 24, 01:52 pm (Istanbul)	3.7 9.9 km	148 km (92 mi) W of Kenger	Aegean Sea, 13 km north of Uzunada Island, Izmir, Turkey I FELT IT - 2 reports	Info
Tuesday, May 20, 2025 GMT (1 quake)
May 20, 11:36 pm (Istanbul)	4.0 8.2 km	244 km (152 mi) N of Kenger	Sea of Marmara, 28 km southwest of Beylikduzu, Istanbul, Turkey I FELT IT - 64 reports	Info
Monday, May 19, 2025 GMT (1 quake)
May 19, 03:58 pm (Istanbul)	3.8 8.8 km	104 km (65 mi) N of Akyarlar	24 km west of Aydin, Aydin, Turkey I FELT IT - 7 reports	Info
Sunday, May 18, 2025 GMT (2 quakes)
May 18, 10:29 am (Athens)	3.8 14 km	99 km (62 mi) SE of Nisyros	37 km south of Rhodes, Dodecanese, South Aegean, Greece I FELT IT - 61 reports	Info
May 18, 04:53 am (Istanbul)	3.7 7 km	59 km (37 mi) E of Akyarlar	Aegean Sea, 44 km southwest of Mugla, Mugla, Turkey I FELT IT - 2 reports	Info
Saturday, May 17, 2025 GMT (1 quake)
May 17, 10:05 pm (Istanbul)	4.0 7 km	110 km (68 mi) E of Erciyes Dagi	16 km northeast of Goksun, Kahramanmaras, Turkey I FELT IT - 2 reports	Info

See Recent Quakes

Significant Earthquakes in Turkey since 1900

The deadliest earthquake in Turkey since 1900 was the magnitude 7.8 earthquake in

Turkey, Gaziantep on Feb, 6, 2023. It resulted in 56,697 fatalities and 119,200 injured people. A tsunami was generated by the quake as well and contributed to its desctuctive effects. This was the 6th worst quake in Turkey during recorded history. This was also the most damaging earthquake that occurred in this time: total economic losses were estimated to the equivalent of $42.9 billion US Dollars. More than 542,000 houses and other buildings were destroyed and more than 1,470,000 damaged.

Date	Mag	Region	Deaths	Damage
2023 Feb 6	7.8	Kahramanmaras; Syria	56,697	catastrophic	Info
1999 Nov 12	7.2	Bolu-duzce-kaynasli, Adapazari, Zonguldak	894	catastrophic	Info
1999 Aug 17	7.6	Istanbul, Kocaeli, Sakarya	17,118	catastrophic	Info
1992 Mar 13	6.9	Erzincan	653	very heavy	Info
1983 Oct 30	6.9	Erzurum, Kars, Khorasan, Pasinler, Narman	1,342	heavy	Info
1976 Nov 24	7.0	Muradiye	5,000	heavy	Info
1975 Sep 6	6.7	Lice	2,311	heavy	Info
1971 May 22	6.7	Bingol	1,000	moderate	Info
1970 Mar 28	7.2	Gediz	1,086	heavy	Info
1966 Aug 19	6.8	Varto	2,394	heavy	Info
1953 Mar 18	7.3	Yenice, Onon	1,070	moderate	Info
1946 May 31	5.9	Ustukran	840	moderate	Info
1944 Feb 1	7.6	Turkey	2,381	heavy	Info
1943 Nov 26	7.5	Ladik, Samsun, Havza	4,020	very heavy	Info
1942 Dec 20	7.0	Niksar, Erbaa	1,000	very heavy	Info
1939 Dec 26	7.8	Erzincan	32,700	heavy	Info
1914 Oct 3	7.0	Burdur, Kilinc, Keciborlu, Isparta	4,000	very heavy	Info
1912 Aug 9	7.2	Marmara Sea	2,800	very heavy	Info
1903 May 28	5.8	Varginis, Cardahli, Mehkerek	1,000	heavy	Info
1903 Apr 28	6.3	Malazgirt	3,560	very heavy	Info

Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), Global Significant Earthquake Database. doi:10.7289/V5TD9V7K

All Quakes in History

Map

Oldest quakes (until 1960) are shown in yellow, most recent (from 2000) in red.

[quakes -] [quakes +] [smaller] [bigger]

Significant Earthquakes in Turkey FAQ

+Which was the deadliest earthquake in Turkey since 1900?

The deadliest earthquake in Turkey since 1900 was the magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Turkey, Gaziantep on Feb, 6, 2023. It resulted in 56,697 fatalities and 119,200 injured people. A tsunami was generated by the quake as well and contributed to its desctuctive effects. This was the 6th worst quake in Turkey during recorded history.

+How many people were killed by earthquakes in Turkey since 1900?

Since 1900, at least 117 earthquakes claimed an estimated total of 150,000 fatalities in Turkey.

+How much damage did earthquakes cause in Turkey since 1900?

There were 152 damaging or deadly quakes during this period that caused economic losses of approx. $70 billion US Dollars combined.

Volcano List

Acigöl-Nevsehir

(caldera, lava domes 1689 m)

Google Earth View image of the caldera of Acigöl-Nevsehir

The big caldera of Acigöl-Nevsehir is located in central Turkey and has a size of 7-8 km diameter. [more info]

Akyarlar

(lava domes 172 m)

Volcanic cones and domes of Akyarlar volcanic field on the Bodrum peninsula of southwestern Turkey seen from Kos Island, Greece.

The Bodrum & Akyarlar volcanics belong to the area of the active Cos volcanic complex and are the most western volcanics of Turkey. [more info]

Ararat

(stratovolcano 5165 m)

The 5165-m-high, double-peaked stratovolcano Mount Ararat, also known as Agri Dagi, is Turkey's highest, largest volume, and easternmost volcano. [more info]

Arpacay

(Volcanic field unknown)

[more info]

Ceyhan-Osmaniye

(Volcanic field 424 m / 1391 ft)

[more info]

Erciyes Dagi

(stratovolcano 3916 m)

Erciyes Dağ or Erciyes Dagi volcano is a massive, eroded stratovolcano that dominates the northern end of the Sultansazligi Basin in central Anatolia. It covers an area of about 1300 sq km. [more info]

Etrusk

(Stratovolcano 3100 m / 10171 ft)

[more info]

Girekol

(stratovolcano 2323 m)

A huge volcano north of Van lake with a great eruption crater towards south-east. [more info]

Gölcük

(Caldera unknown)

[more info]

Göllü Dağ

(stratovolcano 2143 m)

Göllü Dağ, a 2143-m-high rhyolitic-to-rhyodacitic lava dome complex in central Anatolia, lies between the Hasan Dağ and Acigöl-Nevsehir volcanic complexes. [more info]

Hasan Dagi

(stratovolcano 3253 m)

The Hasan Dagi is a huge stratovolcano on which caldera collapses took place in ca. 7500-7600 years ago. [more info]

Karaca Dağ

(shieldvolcano 1957 m)

The huge Karaca Dağ volcano is a 1957 m high basaltic shield volcano in SE-Turkey near the Syrian border. It is situated on the Arabian foreland and about 150 km of the boundary of the Anatolian plate. It has been active since the Pliocene and also in historic times eruptions occ... [more info]

Karadağ

(stratovolcano, lava domes 2265 m)

A huge volcanic complex near the village Madenşehri with a huge crater. [more info]

Karapinar

(cinder cones, maar 1086 m)

The Karapinar volcanic field is one of the most interesting areas in south-western Turkey. [more info]

Karasu Rift

(Volcanic field 486 m / 1594 ft)

[more info]

Kargapazari Dagi

(Unknown 2089 m / 6854 ft)

[more info]

Kars

(stratovolcano ca. 3000 m)

The Kars Plateau is a broad calc-alkaline to alkaline volcanic field of largely Pliocene to mid-Pleistocene age in the NE corner of Turkey (Innocenti et al., 1982; Yilmaz, 1990). [more info]

Kenger

(cinder cone 745 m)

The Kenger volcano belongs to the fault system that created also the Kula cinder cones in western Turkey. [more info]

Kisir Dagi

(Unknown 3192 m / 10472 ft)

[more info]

Koruhüyüğü

(cinder cones 433 m)

A serial of cinder cones in the "graben" structure in the area north of Kirikhan town in Turkey. [more info]

Kula

(cinder cones, maars 740 m)

The Kula volcanic field in western Turkey near the city Selendi had the last eruptions probably more than 10.000 years ago. [more info]

Nemrut Dagi

(caldera 2948 m)

The summit of Nemrut Dagi is truncated by a 5 x 9 km caldera near Lake Van in eastern Turkey. A lake that partially fills the western side of the caldera is constrained by post-caldera eruptions that produced glassy obsidian lava flows from domes on the eastern caldera floor. A series of scoria cones and lava domes were erupted along N-S-trending fissures on the northern flank. Ash layers in Lake Van document numerous Holocene eruptions from Nemrut Dagi. (Image: NASA International Space Station image ISS001-E-6354, 2001, http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/).

Nemrut Dağ (or Nemrut Dagi) volcano is the westernmost of a group of volcanoes near Lake Van in eastern Anatolia, and the only one that has erupted in historical time. It contains a 9 x 5 km caldera partially filled on its western side by a caldera lake. [more info]

Sandal

(cinder cone 855 m)

The Sandal volcano belongs to the Kula volcanic area. [more info]

Süphan Dağ

(lava dome, strato volcano, pyroclatsic flows 4158 m)

The huge lava dome and strato-volcano is situated north of the famous lake Van. [more info]

Tendürek Dağ

(stratovolcano 3584 m)

Tendürek Dağ, also written as Tendürük Dagi, is an elongated shield volcano that rises 1800 m above the plain of Dogubayazit, near the Iranian border, south of Mount Ararat. [more info]

Try our free app!

Android | iOS version

Guaranteed tours

9-25 Jun 2025: Volcanoes and Spices - Sulawesi/Halmahera (Indonesia)

7-22 Jul 2025: From Krakatau to Bali - Java (Indonesia)

7-23 Jul 2025: Volcanoes and Spices - Sulawesi/Halmahera (Indonesia)

1-17 Aug 2025: Volcanoes and Spices - Sulawesi/Halmahera (Indonesia)

1-14 Oct 2025: Desert, salt and volcanoes - Danakil desert (Ethiopia)

4-12 Oct 2025: From Stromboli to Etna - Sicily and Eolian Islands (Italy)

6-21 Oct 2025: From Krakatau to Bali - Java (Indonesia)

3-19 Nov 2025: Volcanoes and Spices - Sulawesi/Halmahera (Indonesia)

= spaces available = guaranteed = few spaces left = booked out

Reported volcanic eruption from Göksun Kuşkayası mountain, Turkey, 11 February 2023

News is spreading in Turkey that a new volcano might have formed at a mountain called Kuşyakası, close to Büyükkızılcık village in the district of Göksun in the province of Kahramanmaraş, on 11 February 2023. ... Read all