Erroneous interpretation of historical documents related to the epicenter of the 1927 Jericho earthquake in the Holy Land

The 1927 earthquake was the strongestseismic event (M = 6.2) of the 20th centuryin the Holy Land and the first significantone in the region to be recorded worldwideby seismometers. By quoting theseismological station in Ksara, the ISSlocated the epicenter 40 km north of theDead Sea. This location, which wassupported by secondary and tertiarymacroseismic `evidence' and became one ofthe most accepted `facts', was neverquestioned nor reevaluated.We show how an initial mistaken earthquakelocation, supported by questionableevidence, struck roots and eventually becamean accepted fact. This typical `chain oferrors' may serve as a warning regardingtreatment of historical macroseismicsources, as well as historical microseismicdocuments. The conclusions drawn from thisstudy, while focusing on historicaldocumentation, fit well the new epicenterof the 1927 earthquake, recalculated in ourformer study.

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