After about 7 years since we first submitted the first proposal (which was the rejected about 3 times before being funded, and then we could not get a ship for 4 years, and finally had to lease one ourselves), we are finally going to acquire acoustic (seismic reflection) data in Marmara Sea, Turkey from about July 2-21. Istanbul is located on the north shore of Marmara Sea. The main/north stand of the North Anatolian fault snakes through Marmara Sea, and the central (or southern) strand is along its south shore. The data that we will acquire is higher resolution (more detailed, but images less deep) than the deep data acquired by the French since we first proposed this work. We want to understand how the fault system has evolved over the last couple of million years, especially the last million years. Unfortunately, we lack precise age control before about 100,000 years. We may have to work with relative ages, but also hope to identify some coring sites that could later provide age control. It is known where rocks of a few million years age are from a petroleum test well.

One of the scientific goals is whether most of the slip has been constantly on the northern strand, closest to Istanbul, or if it has switched back and forth between north and south over the last 10,000 or 100,000 years. There is a huge difference in risk whether the next major quake in Marmara Sea is 20 km S of Istanbul or 50+ km south.

I'd love to report "live" on what we are doing, but there are a few problems with doing that:
1: No internet, and possible not even email
2: I have to be careful what I say for a couple of reasons. I am not the lead investigator, and I need permission to report unpublished work.
3: Interpretations change, and after ~~20,000 people were killed by 2 quakes in 1999, including 2000 in Istanbul, it is better not to have untested hypotheses "out there". When I get back I'll post, but will discuss what is "fair game" with my co-investigators, including Turkish scientists.
Chris