Landslides triggered by the 2023 Kahramanmaraş Earthquake Doublet, Türkiye

We present a comprehensive coseismic landslide inventory for the 6 February 2023 Türkiye earthquake sequence, together with a companion pre-earthquake geomorphic inventory, covering an area of approximately 80,000 km². The earthquake sequence comprised two major events (Mw 7.8 and Mw 7.5) occurring nine hours apart, affecting 11 provinces and subjecting large mountainous regions to ground shaking levels capable of triggering slope failures (peak ground acceleration > 0.08 g). Given that nearly 15% of the affected terrain exhibits slopes steeper than 20°, extensive landsliding was anticipated, although early satellite observations were hindered by widespread snow cover immediately following the earthquakes. Landslide mapping was conducted through systematic, expert-based visual interpretation of high-resolution pre- and post-event optical imagery, including 29,085 post-earthquake aerial photographs (0.3 m resolution). A pre-event geomorphic inventory was generated using 5 m digital elevation model–based Red Relief Image Maps to identify pre-existing slope instabilities. Multi-temporal post-seismic optical image stacks were employed to overcome cloud and snow limitations and to discriminate coseismic landslides from failures initiated approximately one month later during an intense rainfall event; the latter were excluded from the coseismic inventory. Landslides were mapped as full-footprint polygons and classified according to movement type (fall, avalanche, slide, flow, lateral spread, and complex) and material (earth, debris, rock, and rock–debris). The final coseismic inventory comprises 20,270 landslides, predominantly rock falls and avalanches. Surface rupture through mountainous terrain locally generated large and, in some cases, fatal failures, while incipient landslides and ground cracking are widespread, particularly in northern sectors. Lithology, spatial variability of ground motion, and topographic relief emerge as primary controls on landslide distribution. This study provides one of the most detailed datasets of earthquake-triggered landslides in an arid-to-semiarid landscape, offering valuable insights for hazard assessment and landslide modeling in complex seismic environments.