Aix-en-Provence Earthquake, 1708

Abstract

Figure 83 presents a landscape scene in southeastern France, near the town of Aix-en-Provence, which was affected by an earthquake in 1708. The original copper engraving, probably a German leaflet illustration entitled Erschröckliches Erdbeben in Provence, is deposited in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. The image was not signed and its origin was not identified.

The earthquake struck on August 14, 1708 and its intensity was assessed as I_o = VIII–IX on the MCS scale. The epicenter was located in tectonically unstable region of the Durance River valley near a small settlement Manosque. Several other earthquakes were experienced there later, in 1812 and in 1913, which similar to most of the quakes occurring on the French Mediterranean coast were a response to the deformation processes occurring along the southern rim of the Eurasian tectonic plate. The African plate had collided there with European continent; however, its movement was rather slow with a maximum of 6–7 mm per year, and therefore also seismic activities of the region were moderate and earthquakes were not frequent.