Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics

2011 Edition
| Editors: Harsh K. Gupta

Great Earthquakes

  • Roger M. W. Musson
Reference work entry
First Online:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8702-7_7
How to cite

Definition

Any earthquake with magnitude over 8 Mw. Alternatively, any earthquake famous for one reason or another.

Introduction

Under the technical definition, one can find some very obscure “great” earthquakes – a magnitude 8 earthquake in the Southern Ocean is likely to go wholly unremarked by the world’s media. Also, given the inherent imprecision in magnitude scales, it is possible for an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.0 to be successively promoted to and demoted from the canon of greatness with each successive revision.

If one took a sample of educated laymen and asked them to name any earthquakes they could think of, one could be sure to get a few of the most recent high-profile calamities; further back, the results might vary from country to country. In the central USA, probably many are aware of the 1811 New Madrid earthquakes; in central Europe, the name of the 1356 Basel earthquake might come up, and so on. But probably not many could name correctly the largest earthquake...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Professor N.N. Ambraseys and Dr. D.J. Kerridge for helpful reviews of the text.

Bibliography

  1. Agnew, D. C., 2002. History of seismology. In Lee, W. H. K., Kanamori, H., Jennings, P. C., and Kisslinger, C. (eds.), International Handbook of Earthquake and Engineering Seismology. San Diego: Academic, pp. 3–12.Google Scholar
  2. Ambraseys, N. N., 1962. A note on the chronology of Willis’ list of earthquakes in Palestine and Syria. Bulletin. Seismological Society of America, 52, 77–80.Google Scholar
  3. Ambraseys, N. N., 2009. Earthquakes in the Mediterranean and Middle East. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
  4. Ambraseys, N. N., and Adams, R. D., 1989. Long-term seismicity of Northern Armenia confirmed by the historical record. Eos, 70, 152–154.Google Scholar
  5. Ambraseys, N. N., and Melville, C. P., 1982. A History of Persian Earthquakes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
  6. Ambraseys, N. N., and Melville, C. P., 1988. An analysis of the Eastern Mediterranean earthquake of 20 May 1202. In Lee, W. H. K., Meyers, H., and Shimazaki, K. (eds.), Historical Seismograms and Earthquakes of the World. San Diego: Academic, pp. 181–200.Google Scholar
  7. Ammon, C. J., et al., 2005. Rupture process of the 2004 Sumatra–Andaman earthquake. Science, 308, 1133–1139.Google Scholar
  8. Baptista, M. A., and Miranda, J. M., 2005. Evaluation of the 1755 earthquake source using tsunami modelling. In International Conference of the 250th Anniversary of the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake, Proceedings, Lisbon, pp. 574–577.Google Scholar
  9. Baptista, M. A., Miranda, P. M. A., Miranda, J. M., and Mendes-Victor, L., 1998. Constraints on the source of the 1755 Lisbon tsunami inferred from numerical modelling of historical data. Journal of Geodynamics, 25(2), 159–174.Google Scholar
  10. Baptista, M. A., Miranda, J. M., Chierici, F., and Zitellini, N., 2003. New study of the 1755 earthquake source based on multi-channel seismic survey data and tsunami modelling. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 3, 333–340.Google Scholar
  11. Bilham, R., 1994. The 1737 Calcutta earthquake and cyclone evaluated. Bulletin. Seismological Society of America, 84(5), 1650–1657.Google Scholar
  12. Bizouard, C., 2005. Influence of the earthquakes on the polar motion with emphasis on the Sumatra event. In Journées Systèmes de Référence Spatio-Temporels, Proceedings. Warsaw, pp. 229–232.Google Scholar
  13. Chen, Y., 1988. The Great Tangshan Earthquake of 1976: An Anatomy of Disaster. New York: Pergamon.Google Scholar
  14. Davison, C., 1927. The Founders of Seismology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
  15. Engdahl, E. R., and Villasenor, A., 2002. Global seismicity: 1900–1999. In Lee, W. H. K., Kanamori, H., Jennings, P. C., and Kisslinger, C. (eds.), International Handbook of Earthquake and Engineering Seismology. San Diego: Academic, pp. 665–690.Google Scholar
  16. Fradkin, P. L., 2006. The Great Earthquake and Firestorms of 1906. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
  17. Fu, Z.-X., Liu, G.-P., Shao, H.-C., and Ding, X., 2005. An overview on shallow strong earthquake activity and earthquake live losses of Chinese mainland in the centenary from 1901 to 2001. Acta Seismologica Sinica, 18(4), 392–401.Google Scholar
  18. Guidoboni, E., and Comastri, A., 2005. Catalogue of Earthquakes and Tsunamis in the Mediterranean Area from the 11th to the 15th Century. Bologna: INGV.Google Scholar
  19. Gutscher, M.-A., 2004. What caused the Great Lisbon earthquake? Science, 305, 1247–1248.Google Scholar
  20. Gutscher, M.-A., et al., 2002. Evidence for active subduction beneath Gibraltar. Geology, 30, 1071–1074.Google Scholar
  21. Hoernes, R., 1878. Erdbeben studien. Jahrbuch der Kaiserlich- Königlichen Geologischen Reichsanstalt, 28, 387–448.Google Scholar
  22. Ji, C., 2004. Preliminary result of the 04/12/26 (Mw 9.0), off W coast of northern Sumatra earthquake (http://www.gps.caltech.edu/∼jichen/Earthquake/2004/aceh/aceh.html).
  23. Johnston, A. C., 1996. Seismic moment assessment of earthquakes in stable continental regions. III. New Madrid 1811–1812, Charleston 1886, and Lisbon 1755. Geophysical Journal International, 126, 314–344.Google Scholar
  24. Kendrick, T. D., 1956. The Lisbon Earthquake. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
  25. Lawson, A. C. (ed.), 1908–1910. The California Earthquake of April 18, 1906: Report of the State Earthquake Investigation Commission. Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution of Washington, Vol. 2.Google Scholar
  26. Levret, A., 1991. The Effects of the November 1, 1755 Lisbon earthquake in Morocco. Tectonophysics, 193, 83–94.Google Scholar
  27. Lyell, C., 1856. Sur les effets du tremblement de terre du 23 Janvier, 1855, à la Nouvell Zélande. Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France, 13, 661–667.Google Scholar
  28. Mallet, R., 1851. First report on the facts of earthquake phaenomena. Report of the British Association of the Advancement of Science, 20, 1–89.Google Scholar
  29. Marza, V., 2004. On the death toll of the 1999 Izmit (Turkey) major earthquake. In European Seismological Commission, Proceedings. Potsdam.Google Scholar
  30. Megawati, K., and Pan, T. C., 2009. Regional seismic hazard posed by the Mentawai Segment of the Sumatran Megathrust. Bulletin. Seismological Society of America, 99, 566–584.Google Scholar
  31. Nalbant, S. S., Steacy, S., Sieh, K., Natawidjaja, D. H., and McCloskey, J., 2005. Earthquake risk on the Sunda trench. Nature, 435, 756–757.Google Scholar
  32. Newcomb, K. R., and McCann, W. R., 1987. Seismic history and seismotectonics of the Sunda Arc. Journal of Geophysical Research 92(B1), 421–439.Google Scholar
  33. Reid, H. F., 1910. The mechanics of the earthquake. In Lawson, A. C. (ed.), The California Earthquake of April 18, 1906: Report of the State Earthquake Investigation Commission. Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution of Washington.Google Scholar
  34. Segall, P., and Liskowski, M., 1990. Comparison of surface displacements in the 1906 San Francisco and 1989 Loma Prieta earthquakes. Science, 250, 1241–1244.Google Scholar
  35. Sibol, M. S., Bollinger, G. A., and Birch, J. B., 1987. Estimations of magnitudes in central and eastern North America using intensity and felt area. Bulletin. Seismological Society of America, 77, 1635–1654.Google Scholar
  36. Stover, C. W., and Coffman, J. L., 1993. Seismicity of the United States, 1568–1989 (Revised). Washington: United States Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
  37. Suárez, G., and Albini, P., 2009. Evidence for great tsunamigenic earthquakes (M 8.6) along the Mexican subduction zone. Bulletin. Seismological Society of America, 99, 892–896.Google Scholar
  38. Tiedemann, H., 1992. Earthquakes and Volcanic Eruptions: A Handbook on Risk Assessment. Zurich: Swiss Re. 951 pp.Google Scholar
  39. Utsu, T., 2002. A list of deadly earthquakes in the World: 1500–2000. In Lee, W. H. K., Kanamori, H., Jennings, P. C., and Kisslinger, C. (eds.), International Handbook of Earthquake and Engineering Seismology. San Diego: Academic, pp. 691–718.Google Scholar
  40. Vigny, C., et al., 2005. Insight into the 2004 Sumatra–Andaman earthquake from GPS measurements in southeast Asia. Nature, 436, 201–206.Google Scholar
  41. Vilanova, S. P., Nunes, C. F., and Fonseca, J. F. B. D., 2003. Lisbon 1755: a case of triggered onshore rupture? Bulletin. Seismological Society of America, 93(5), 2056–2068.Google Scholar
  42. Wald, D. J., Kanamori, H., Helmberger, D., and Heaton, T. H., 1993. Source study of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Bulletin. Seismological Society of America, 83, 981–1019.Google Scholar
  43. Walsham, A., 1999. Providence in Early Modern England. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
  44. Willis, B., 1928. Earthquakes in the holy land. Bulletin. Seismological Society of America, 18, 73–103.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  • Roger M. W. Musson
    • 1
  1. 1.Earthquake SeismologyBritish Geological SurveyEdinburghUK