Abstract
The historical sources of large and moderate earthquakes, earthquake catalogues and monographs exist in many depositories in Syria and European centers. They have been studied, and the detailed review and analysis resulted in a catalogue with 181 historical earthquakes from 1365 B.C. to 1900 A.D. Numerous original documents in Arabic, Latin, Byzantine and Assyrian allowed us to identify seismic events not mentioned in previous works. In particular, detailed descriptions of damage in Arabic sources provided quantitative information necessary to re-evaluate past seismic events. These large earthquakes (I0>VIII) caused considerable damage in cities, towns and villages located along the northern section of the Dead Sea fault system. Fewer large events also occurred along the Palmyra, Ar-Rassafeh and the Euphrates faults in Eastern Syria. Descriptions in original sources document foreshocks, aftershocks, fault ruptures, liquefaction, landslides, tsunamis, fires and other damages. We present here an updated historical catalogue of 181 historical earthquakes distributed in 4 categories regarding the originality and other considerations, we also present a table of the parametric catalogue of 36 historical earthquakes (table I) and a table of the complete list of all historical earthquakes (181 events) with the affected locality names and parameters of information quality and completeness (table II) using methods already applied in other regions (Italy, England, Iran, Russia) with a completeness test using EMS-92. This test suggests that the catalogue is relatively complete for magnitudes >6.5. This catalogue may contribute to a comprehensive and unified parametric earthquake catalogue and to a realistic assessment of seismic hazards in Syria and surrounding regions.
Highlights
The Middle East is one of the few regions worldwide where historical accounts of earth-Mohamed Reda Sbeinati, Ryad Darawcheh and Mikhail MoutySince 1990 and within the framework of the «Seismic Data for Siting and Site-Revalidation of Nuclear Facility» research project, under the patronage of the International Atomic EnergyAgency (IAEA), the Seismology Section in the Department of Geology and Nuclear Ores at the Atomic Energy Commission of Syria (AECS) has investigated the historical seismicity of Syr-ia
All events are listed in table II which represents complete information about the historical earthquakes with estimated intensities at relevant localities and accompanying effects, with information completeness (A – complete; B – accepted; C – incomplete) and information quality factors (1 – good source quality; 2 – moderate source quality; 3 – poor source quality)
It is bounded from the west, by the northern section of the Dead Sea Fault system (DSF), a plate boundary consisting of the northeast trending Al-Yammouneh Fault (YAF) and the north trending Al-Ghab Fault (GAF)
Summary
The Middle East is one of the few regions worldwide where historical accounts of earth-. Original sources were identified, located, and exploited to extract the necessary information for constructing a unified parametric catalogue. We studied 181 historical earthquakes, and estimated the related intensities for each locality with a standardized methodology. A final parametric catalogue for 36 major earthquakes reports the epicenter locations, maximum intensities and estimated magnitudes. This paper documents historical earthquakes of Syria and addresses the following points: i) the study of new historical seismic events; ii) the re-appraisal of historical seismic events in the light of original and new sources; iii) re-evaluation of past events by means of a careful examination of all available references; iv) historical earthquakes in previous works, and a discussion on the distribution of large earthquakes along the main fault systems. All events are listed in table II which represents complete information about the historical earthquakes with estimated intensities at relevant localities and accompanying effects, with information completeness (A – complete; B – accepted; C – incomplete) and information quality factors (1 – good source quality; 2 – moderate source quality; 3 – poor source quality)
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