Tools for compiling theGlobal Earthquake HistoryPaola Albini1 | Roger M.W. Musson2 | Antonio A. Gomez Capera1 | Mario Locati1 | Andrea Rovida1 |Massimiliano Stucchi1 | Daniele Viganò1 |
1 Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, INGV, Milano, Italy2 British Geological Survey, BGS, Edinburgh, UK
Global Earthquake History: the project
‣ Three main goals:‒ Global Historical Earthquake Archive-GHEA‒ Global Large Historical Earthquake Catalogue-GLHECAT‒ IT Infrastructure and website
‣ Fulfilled by establishing an innovative set of methodological and technological tools
‣ Time coverage: 1000-1903
‣ Magnitude range : ≥7 (at the outset of the project)
Global Earthquake History: the project (cont)
Study A Study B Study C Study D
Global Historical EarthquakeArchive
Global Large Historical Earthquake Catalogue
Earthquake 1 Earthquake 2
Selection criteria
The Global Historical Earthquake Archive - GHEA
Overall goal in compiling the Global Historical Earthquake Archive:‣ To identify, collect and critically organise the best and most
recent information available for earthquakes in the time-window 1000-1903 and magnitude equal to or higher than 7
‣ Information not from primary sources, but from published material, such as:‒ Papers, reports, and volumes‒ Sets of Macroseismic Data Points‒ Parametric Catalogues
GHE Archive: from Studies to Records-1833 Nyalam eq
Szeliga et al., 2010
Martin & Szeliga, 2010
Bilham, 1995
Ambraseys & Douglas, 2004
Bhatia et al., 1999
GHE Archive: from Studies to Records-1833 Nyalam eq
China SSB & FU, 1990b
Min Ziqun, 1995
GHE Archive: from Studies to Records-1833 Nyalam eq
• M values range from 7.6 to 8.0
• Epicentral location varies considerably
• The solution by the Chinese catalogue, Min Ziqun, 1995 (highlight in yellow) is adopted
• NB: in bordering areas the comprehensive vision of the GEH Archive can suggest new insights
GHE Archive and Number of Records per Earthquake
Multiplicity of Studies for each Earthquake
GHE Archive in Numbers
The Archive contains:
‣ 236 studies ‣ critically analysed and inventoried‣ selected (thousands of pages scanned)
‣ 994 earthquakes
‣ 3,154 records compiled (in the database underlying the Archive)
‣ 17 fakes
GHE Archive in Numbers (cont)
The Archive contains also:
‣ 77 studies in the Archive containing Macroseismic Data Points
‣ 12, 282 Macroseismic Data Points re-compiled from 69 studies for a total of 292 (out of 994) earthquakes
GHE Archive and Number of Macroseismic Data Points
292 earthquakes with 12,582 macroseismic data
The Global Large Historical Earthquake Catalogue - GLHECAT
Overall goal in compiling the Catalogue:‣ The material upon which GLHE Catalogue is built is supplied by
the GHE Archive, selected because of‒ public availability‒ clarity and reliability
‣ The Archive content was analysed on a region-by-region and in most cases an earthquake-by-earthquake basis
‣ The Catalogue results from comparing the sets of parameters available for each earthquake and selecting the best-attested (checked against the studies and their data)
GLHE Catalogue in Numbers
The Catalogue contains:‣ 827 earthquakes (out of 994 in the GHE Archive)‣ 110 earthquakes with M<7 (mostly in intraplate areas)‣ 167 earthquakes not included (a magnitude <7 was assigned)
‣ 92 studies (out of the 236 archived) supplying the parameters
GLHE Catalogue in Time
32 earthquakes
GLHE Catalogue in Time
37 earthquakes
GLHE Catalogue in Time
101 earthquakes
GLHE Catalogue in Time
132 earthquakes
GLHE Catalogue in Time
209 earthquakes
GLHE Catalogue in Time
316 earthquakes
GLHE Catalogue in Time 1000-1903
827 earthquakes
NOAA Catalogue 1000-1903 and M≥7
371 earthquakes
GLHE Catalogue 1000-1903 M≥7
717 earthquakes
GLHE Catalogue vs NOAA Catalogue, Himalayas (1)
11 eqs in NOAA Catalogue vs 20 eqs in GLHE Catalogue
Differences in location
GLHE Catalogue vs NOAA Catalogue, Himalayas (2)
Comparison between Magnitudes
GLHE Catalogue vs NOAA Catalogue, Himalayas (3)
GLHE Catalogue vs NOAA Catalogue, Indonesia
NOAA Catalogue: 6 earthquakes GLHE Catalogue: 75 earthquakes
The IT Infrastructure and Website: accessing the Archive
Accessing the Archive (cont)
The archive is accessed by means of a website where a two depth level approach has been implemented:‣ a general view with the list of all earthquakes‣ a detailed view with all the archived items on an earthquake
Global Earthquake History
Study A Study B Study C Study D
Global Historical EarthquakeArchive
Global Large Historical Earthquake Catalogue
Earthquake 1 Earthquake 2
Selection criteria
Global Earthquake History: an “alive and kicking” Archive
‣ The Global Historical Earthquake Archive provides a complete (so far as is possible) account of the global situation in historical seismology, with all existing studies collected together in a syncretic way, retrievable either by earthquake or region.
‣ The Global Large Historical Earthquake Catalogue is the best global historical catalogue of large earthquakes presently available with the best parameters selected, duplications and fakes removed, and new earthquakes discovered.
‣ The full title of the project is “Tools for compiling a Global Earthquake History”: the history itself is not yet fully written, and, as should be clear, much writing remains to be done.