Abstract
The 11 May 1624 Fez earthquake is one of the worst natural disasters in the history of Morocco, and caused serious damage in the city of Fez and its surroundings. It occurred in one of the most active seismic zones in the country, and in an area that is now densely populated. The 1624 earthquake occurred at a crucial time in the history of Morocco (decline of the Saadian dynasty and outbreak of internal wars) which explains the lack of sufficient information on the extensive devastation that resulted from the earthquake. We consulted several Moroccan and European sources, whenever possible first hand. A complete historical review of testimonies and journals of the time describing this particular earthquake has been carried out. Correlation these effects with the local geological setting and the most recent seismological data shows that the focal region of the 1624 Fez earthquake is likely to be located somewhere along the E—W trending Rides Prerifaines, the main frontal thrust of the Rif. An evaluation of the magnitude of the earthquake is proposed, on the basis of existing empirical relationships. Understanding this earthquake may improve the seismic hazard assessment of the region.
Highlights
Historical seismicity of Morocco was only known up to about thirty years ago through the catalogs of Perrey (1847, 1848), Hée (1932), Galbis (1932, 1940), Roux (1934), Munuera (1963), Kárník (1969), Mezcua Rodríguez & Martinez Solares (1983)
For computing intensities that would have been observed during the historical earthquake of 1624, we used the attenuation law established for the Saïss region of where α = 0.0010 ± 0.0005
Morocco has a moderate seismicity characterized by small events of order of magnitudes smaller than five, but destructive earthquakes have struck the country periodically throughout its history
Summary
Historical seismicity of Morocco was only known up to about thirty years ago through the catalogs of Perrey (1847, 1848), Hée (1932), Galbis (1932, 1940), Roux (1934), Munuera (1963), Kárník (1969), Mezcua Rodríguez & Martinez Solares (1983). Investigations for original sources and collection of documents (Vogt 1985, Levret 1991, Elmrabet 1991, 2001), with the latest Spanish catalog (Martinez Solares & Mezcua Rodriguez 2002) made it possible to establish lists of historical events felt in Morocco before 1900 (Fig. 1). An event that occurred in 1909 in the region of Ghomara (northern Morocco) was first described and considered as an earthquake before finding out that it was only a large landslide without any seismic cause (Cherkaoui and El Hassani, 2015)
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