The historical earthquakes of Syria: an analysis of large and moderate earthquakes from 1365 B.C. to 1900 A.D.

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.

[1]  E. Guidoboni,et al.  Catalogue of ancient earthquakes in the Mediterranean area up to the 10th century , 1994 .

[2]  C. V. Hake,et al.  Earthquake data file summary , 1977 .

[3]  N. Ambraseys.  The earthquake of 1 January 1837 in Southern Lebanon and N orthern Israel , 1997 .

[4]  B. Mcging.  The Foreign Policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus , 1997 .

[5]  C. Lomnitz.  Global tectonics and earthquake risk , 1974 .

[6]  G. Downey,et al.  A History of Antioch in Syria , 1961 .

[7]  M. Barazangi,et al.  Bouguer gravity trends and crustal structure of the Palmyride Mountain belt and surrounding northern Arabian platform in Syria , 1990 .

[8]  N. N. Ambraseys,et al.  Middle East—A Reappraisal of the Seismicity , 1978, Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology.

[9]  N. Ambraseys.  A note on the chronology of Willis's list of earthquakes in Palestine and Syria , 1962 .

[10]  N. Ambraseys,et al.  The Seismicity of Egypt, Arabia and the Red Sea: A Historical Review , 1994 .

[11]  G. Downey.  Seleucid Chronology in Malalas , 1938, American Journal of Archaeology.

[12]  P. Wolff.  Naissance d'une capitale , 1963, Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales.

[13]  B. Willis.  Earthquakes in the Holy Land: A Correction , 1933, Nature.

[14]  T. R. S. Broughton.  Some Non-Colonial Coloni of Augustus , 1935 .

[15]  Michael Lecker,et al.  Babylonia Judaica in the Talmudic Period , 1983 .

[16]  F. Gomez,et al.  Evidence for 830 years of seismic quiescence from palaeoseismology, archaeoseismology and historical seismicity along the Dead Sea fault in Syria , 2003 .

[17]  M. Barazangi,et al.  The 1759 Earthquake in the Bekaa Valley: Implications for earthquake hazard assessment in the Eastern Mediterranean Region , 1989 .

[18]  Bailey Willis,et al.  Earthquakes in the Holy Land , 1928 .

[19]  James Jackson,et al.  Faulting associated with historical and recent earthquakes in the Eastern Mediterranean region , 1998 .

[20]  M. Stucchi.  Recommendations for the compilation of a European parametric earthquake catalogue, with special reference to historical records , 1993 .

[21]  J. C. Greenfield,et al.  Ancient records from North Arabia , 1970 .

[22]  J. Poirier,et al.  Historical seismicity in the near and Middle East, North Africa, and Spain from Arabic documents (VIIth-XVIIIth century) , 1980 .

[23]  Ελισάβετ Α. Ζαχαριάδου.  N.N. Ambraseys and C.F.Finkel, The seismicity of Turkey and Adjacent Areas, A historical review , 1997 .

[24]  J. Liebeschuetz,et al.  Antioch. City and Imperial Administration in the Later Roman Empire. , 1972 .

[25]  B. Croke,et al.  The chronicle of John Malalas , 1986 .

[26]  A. Kallner.  A revised earthquake-catalogue of Palestine , 1952 .

[27]  K. Russell.  The Earthquake Chronology of Palestine and Northwest Arabia from the 2nd Through the Mid-8th Century A. D. , 1985, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research.

[28]  Simon McClusky,et al.  GPS constraints on Africa (Nubia) and Arabia plate motions , 2003 .

[29]  H. Ghalib,et al.  Historical seismicity of Iraq , 1975, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.

[30]  J. Haas.  History of Palestine , 1934 .

[31]  佐藤 次高.  The Syrian coastal town of Jabala : its history and present situation , 1988 .

[32]  N. N. Ambraseys,et al.  THE SEISMICITY OF THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN REGION 550-1 BC: A RE-APPRAISAL , 1997 .

[33]  N. N. Ambraseys,et al.  Data for the investigation of the seismic sea-waves in the Eastern Mediterranean , 1962 .

[34]  N. A. Karaki.  Synthese et carte sismotectonique des pays de la bordure orientale de la mediterranee : sismicite du systeme de failles du jourdain-mer morte , 1987 .

[35]  B. Romanowicz,et al.  Large historical earthquakes and seismic risk in Northwest Syria , 1980, Nature.