Abstract
The 1556 CE Huaxian earthquake resulted in an estimated 830,000 deaths and caused widespread devastation in the Weihe Basin, China. Seismic intensities from historical accounts yield, via magnitude‐intensity relations, a commonly quoted magnitude of 8¼ to 8½. The maximum recorded shaking was confined to a zone close to the Huashan and Weinan faults, which exhibit fresh scarps up to 7–8 m high. Recent palaeoseismic studies have suggested, however, that the Weinan fault has not ruptured at the surface for several thousand years. Furthermore, the 90‐km combined length of the Huashan and Weinan faults is short for an earthquake of magnitude 8¼ to 8½. We present a detailed analysis of the Weinan fault at one well‐preserved site, combining field observations and age constraints from fluvial terraces displaced by faulting, analysis of a high‐resolution digital elevation model (DEM), interpretation of the walls of a quarry that cuts through the fault zone, and from a profile of borehole cores across the fault. We find that the fault ruptured within the last ~900 years and is likely, along with the Huashan segment, to be the causative fault for the 1556 earthquake. The magnitude remains uncertain, withMw ~ 7.5 being a plausible estimate given the fault length, and no more thanMw8.0 if we use the maximum estimates of slip. These estimates are considerably smaller than magnitudes estimated from intensities, with importance in estimating the recurrence intervals between destructive earthquakes and hazard across central China.
Highlights
We examine the 23 January 1556 Huaxian earthquake in Shaanxi, central China (Figure 1a), which is the deadliest in history with an estimated death toll of ~830,000, of which roughly one third were killed by primary effects of building and cave‐dwelling collapse, and of landsliding, with the remaining two thirds thought to have perished through resulting famine and disease (e.g., Hou et al, 1998; Wang, 1987; Yuan & Feng, 2010)
We present a detailed analysis of the Weinan fault at one well‐preserved site, combining field observations and age constraints from fluvial terraces displaced by faulting, analysis of a high‐resolution digital elevation model (DEM), interpretation of the walls of a quarry that cuts through the fault zone, and from a profile of borehole cores across the fault
We examine the 23 January 1556 Huaxian earthquake in Shaanxi, central China (Figure 1a), which is the deadliest in history with an estimated death toll of ~830,000, of which roughly one third were killed by primary effects of building and cave‐dwelling collapse, and of landsliding, with the remaining two thirds thought to have perished through resulting famine and disease (e.g., Hou et al, 1998; Wang, 1987; Yuan & Feng, 2010)
Summary
We examine the 23 January 1556 Huaxian earthquake in Shaanxi, central China (Figure 1a), which is the deadliest in history with an estimated death toll of ~830,000, of which roughly one third were killed by primary effects of building and cave‐dwelling collapse, and of landsliding, with the remaining two thirds thought to have perished through resulting famine and disease (e.g., Hou et al, 1998; Wang, 1987; Yuan & Feng, 2010). Zhang et al (1995) report discontinuous scarps between 3 and 8 m in height along the Huashan fault These scarps are developed tens of meters north of the basement fault surface, and close to Huaxian town they displace a terrace containing abundant Yangshao cultural artifacts of ~4,000 years age. We make estimates of its maximum magnitude, based on the assumption that the scarps were formed solely by the 1556 earthquake, and we compare this value to magnitudes obtained from historical intensities These findings are discussed in the context of normal fault occurrence in intraplate regions and for seismic hazard assessment
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