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Archeological Monuments: Evidence of Strong Earthquakes in the Past (Using the Example of the Southwestern Part of the Issyk-Kul Lake Region, the Tien Shan)

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Abstract

This paper presents new materials and summarizes existing ones on archeoseismology studies of stony walls conducted in the Alabash-Konurolyong intramountain depression (southwestern Issyk-Kul Lake region, the northern Tien Shan). The remnants of a sublatitudinal stone wall north of the village of Kyoksay, the remnants of buildings on the Duvana pass, the “long” submeridional wall north of the village of Alabash, and ruins of the fortress of the same name located on the Alabash pass have been studied. The deformations allow us to proceed to quantitative characteristics of two seismic events that occurred in the 15th and 18th centuries. The significant PGV values (on average, 1–3 m/s) are in good agreement with results of an analysis of data on the strong ground motions and correspond to the nearest near-fault zone. These values, in accordance with the morphostructural and other paleoseismologic data, point to the vicinity (within the limits of a few kilometers) of the corresponding seismogenic fault generating them and to the development of thrust deformations of compression. Paleoseismologic data, in particular, the results of PGV value assessments, indicate the significantly larger seismic hazard of the southern shore of the Issyk-Kul Lake depression than is shown in the modern map of seismic hazards of Kyrgyzstan. We assess seismic intensity values for our investigated localities as I = 9.0 ± 0.5. Thus, according to preliminary paleoseismology data, the seismicity level of the southern part of the Issyk-Kul Lake basin is analogous to the seismicity of its northern part. These data can be used in reevaluating the seismic hazard of the investigated territory.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank D. Luzhanskii for participating in field works and sketching one of targets of research.

Funding

This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project no. 20-05-00433, and as part of the state research program of the Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sergeev Institute of Geoecology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 101000, Moscow, Russia

    L. A. Korzhenkova & V. M. Makeev

  2. Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, 123995, Moscow, Russia

    A. M. Korzhenkov & A. A. Strelnikov

  3. Institute of Theory of Earthquakes Forecast and Mathematical Geophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 113556, Moscow, Russia

    M. V. Rodkin

  4. Institute of Marine Geology and Geophysics, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 693022, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia

    M. V. Rodkin

  5. Institute of the Earth Crust, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 664033, Irkutsk, Russia

    A. S. Gladkov

  6. Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia

    E. V. Deev

  7. Novosibirsk State University, 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia

    E. V. Deev

  8. State Research Institute “Nature Research Centre”, LT-08412, Vilnius, Lithuania

    J. V. Mazeika

  9. Institute of Seismology, National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, 720060, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

    A. B. Fortuna

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  1. L. A. Korzhenkova
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  2. A. M. Korzhenkov
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  6. A. S. Gladkov
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Correspondence to A. M. Korzhenkov.

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Translated by M. Samokhina

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Korzhenkova, L.A., Korzhenkov, A.M., Rodkin, M.V. et al. Archeological Monuments: Evidence of Strong Earthquakes in the Past (Using the Example of the Southwestern Part of the Issyk-Kul Lake Region, the Tien Shan). Izv. Atmos. Ocean. Phys. 57, 1396–1413 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001433821110050

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