Citarik Fault

The Citarik Fault is a strike-slip fault that cuts across Western Java, Indonesia, passing through Pelabuhan Ratu, Bogor and Bekasi. It is a long crack in the earth's crust where two tectonic plates move past each other. The fault has been active since the Middle Miocene period, about 15 million years ago.

Tectonical history
At first, the Citarik Fault was a transtensional fault, meaning that the plates were moving apart and creating space for new crust to form. However, since the Plio-Pleistocene period, about 5 million years ago, the fault has changed into a left strike-slip fault, meaning that the plates are sliding horizontally past each other in opposite directions.

Characteristics
This fault is an Left-Lateral Strike-Slip type fault and has a length of about 250 km, However this fault is segmented and divided into three segments: the southern, central, and northern segments, each with different characteristics and seismic potentials.

Activity
This fault is not very seismically active, However this fault has caused several damaging earthquakes to occur, such as in March 2020 and December 2023. This fault also possibly has caused a magnitude Mw 7.0 earthquake in 1833.

Seismic hazard
This 250 kilometer long fault passes through and is near densely populated areas such as Jakarta metropolitan area which has a population of more than 30 million people. Soft ground conditions around the northern part of the fault such as in Bekasi and Jakarta can cause amplification of earthquake shocks.