Earthquakes and tsunamis in the past : a guide to techniques in historical seismology

This handbook defines the discipline of historical seismology by detailing the latest research methodologies for studying historical earthquakes and tsunamis. It describes the various sources that reference seismic phenomena, discusses the critical problems of interpreting such sources, and presents a summary of the theories proposed throughout history to explain the causes of earthquakes. Incorporating examples from a broad geographic region (including Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, central Asia, and the Americas), the text presents numerous interpretations and misinterpretations of historical earthquakes and tsunamis in order to illustrate the key techniques. The authors also tie historical seismology research to archaeological investigations, and demonstrate how new scientific databases and catalogues can be compiled from information derived from the methodologies described. This is an important new reference for scientists, engineers, historians and archaeologists, providing a valuable foundation for understanding the Earth's seismic past and potential future seismic hazard.

Author Notes

Emanuela Guidoboni, a historian by training, is a Senior Scientist and Head of the Historical Seismology and Volcanology Unit at the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Bologna, Italy. From 1983 to 2007, she served as Director of Storia Geofisica Ambiente (SGA), Bologna, a company specializing in the study of earthquakes and other historical environmental phenomena. Dr Guidoboni is a leading expert in the historical seismicity of the Mediterranean region, and the author of a number of important historical earthquake catalogues and more than 100 scientific publications.
John E. Ebel is a Professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics and Director of the Weston Observatory at Boston College, Massachusetts, where his research interests include theoretical, exploration and earthquake seismology. Professor Ebel was awarded the 2003 Jesuit Seismological Award and the 2004 Service to the Seismological Society of America Award.

Preface	p. ix
Part I Defining historical seismology
1 What is historical seismology?	p. 3
1.1 The interest in historical earthquakes and tsunamis	p. 3
1.2 The historical approach to seismology	p. 6
1.3 Some key ideas in historical seismology	p. 8
2 The importance of historical earthquake and tsunami data	p. 11
2.1 The scientific understanding of earthquakes and tsunamis	p. 11
2.2 Earthquake catalogues and their history	p. 26
Part II Issues concerning the interpretation of historical earthquakes and tsunami data
3 Written historical sources and their use	p. 39
3.1 A definition of historical sources	p. 39
3.2 Types of written historical sources	p. 41
4 Types of scientific sources: historical interpretations of earthquakes (an excursus from the ancient world up to the twentieth century)	p. 147
4.1 Theories and treatises of the past	p. 147
4.2 Scientific studies and services	p. 186
5 Other types of sources	p. 195
5.1 Historical earthquake cartography	p. 195
5.2 Iconographic sources (drawings, frescoes, etc.)	p. 204
5.3 Sources written with light	p. 206
5.4 Unwritten sources	p. 217
6 Potential problems in historical records	p. 221
6.1 Problems inherent in the historical sources	p. 221
6.2 Problems inherent in the use of historical sources	p. 228
6.3 False and lost earthquakes	p. 247
7 Determination of historical earthquakes: dates and times	p. 263
7.1 The need for a common time base for earthquake catalogues	p. 263
7.2 Dating styles and practice in ancient Mediterranean cultures	p. 265
7.3 Years, months and days	p. 265
7.4 The measurement of the hours from the ancient world to the modern era	p. 284
7.5 Earthquake duration	p. 294
Part III Practical guidelines for the analysis of historical earthquake data
8 Planning the goals of analysis of historical earthquake data	p. 299
8.1 Reviewing existing earthquake and tsunami catalogues	p. 299
8.2 The search for fresh historical data	p. 302
8.3 Different research strategies for large and small earthquakes	p. 304
8.4 Seismic crises, sequences and multiple earthquakes: picking them out from among the sources	p. 314
8.5 Foreshocks and aftershocks: why targeted research is useful	p. 320
8.6 Epicentres at sea or on land?	p. 322
8.7 The completeness of an earthquake catalogue: some general considerations from the historical point of view	p. 325
9 Processing historical records	p. 329
9.1 The validation of historical data	p. 329
9.2 Classifying a list of references	p. 332
10 From interpretation of historical records to historical seismic scenarios	p. 336
10.1 Constructing seismic scenarios: a painstaking montage of different elements	p. 336
10.2 Terminology and modes of expression	p. 337
10.3 Place-names, administrative boundaries, frontiers and their changes	p. 341
10.4 Territorial factors in seismic scenarios	p. 345
10.5 Human impact	p. 352
10.6 The effects of earthquakes on construction practices	p. 366
10.7 Effects in towns: constructing an urban seismic scenario of the past	p. 378
10.8 Effects on the natural environment	p. 380
10.9 Identifying faulting and liquefaction features in historical accounts	p. 394
10.10 Tsunamis: loss of data and descriptive uniformity	p. 401
10.11 Earthquake effects on a regional scale: outlining a complex seismic scenario	p. 413
11 Traces of earthquakes in archaeological sites and in monuments	p. 418
11.1 Historical seismology and archaeology	p. 418
11.2 Traces of earthquakes in historical construction and monuments	p. 437
12 Deriving earthquake source and shaking parameters and tsunami parameters from historical data	p. 473
12.1 On the dates and times of earthquakes and tsunamis from historical records	p. 475
12.2 Macroseismic intensity and historical reports	p. 480
12.3 Comparing historical and modern earthquakes to estimate earthquake location, size and strength of ground-shaking	p. 488
12.4 Estimating tsunami parameters from historical data	p. 504
13 Cooperation in historical seismology research	p. 514
13.1 The accuracy of historical earthquake and tsunami data	p. 515
13.2 Improving earthquake catalogues	p. 517
13.3 Improving seismic hazard estimations	p. 520
13.4 Bringing seismologists, historians and archaeologists together	p. 521
Glossary	p. 523
Bibliographical summaries	p. 531
References	p. 537
Index	p. 584

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