Six Major Historical Earthquakes in the Seoul Metropolitan Area during the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910)

Abstract

ABSTRACTEarthquake records in the historical literature provide valuable information on the seismic hazard potentials for long recurrence times. The Seoul metropolitan area is the center of the economy and infrastructure in South Korea. Six major earthquakes that occurred around the Seoul metropolitan area during the Joseon dynasty in 1392–1910 are analyzed using a probabilistic joint inversion method based on seismic damage records and earthquake-felt reports. The inversion yields sets of event locations and magnitudes with probabilities. The joint inversion method is validated with synthetic and instrumentally observed data sets. The historical earthquakes are found to be located around the Seoul metropolitan area. The magnitudes of the earthquakes range from ML 5.3 to 6.8 at the peak probabilistic locations. These historical earthquakes suggest considerable seismic hazard potentials in the Seoul metropolitan area.