The 1887 Ligurian earthquake: a detailed study from contemporary scientific observations

Ferrari, Graziano

doi:10.1016/0040-1951(91)90194-w

Cited by 28 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 3 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…After minor foreshocks, three destructive events occurred at 5:21, 5:30, and 7:50 UT. The strongest occurred at 5:21 with a magnitude of M = 6.2-6.5 [Ferrari, 1991]. These events were followed over the next year by about 750 aftershocks [Eva et al, 1990].…”

Section: Earthquakementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many significant papers and reports were published immediately after the earthquake [Meunier, 1887' lssel, 1888, Taramelli and Mercalli, 1888, etc.] Recently the earthquake parameters have been revised, taking into consideration all information collected in newspapers, reports and archives as well as an hnproved knowledge of the seismicity of the region [Eva et al, 1990;Ferrari, 1991]. However, up to now very little attention has been paid to the tsunami which accompanied this submarine earthquake.…”

Section: Earthquakementioning

confidence: 99%

“…About 600 people were killed and more than 2000 injured. It was the strongest event to strike this area in over 1000 years [Ferrari, 1991]. The epicenter of the earthquake has recently been determined on the basis of macroseismic data to be about 20 km offshore from hnperia (Figure 1) at the base of the continental slope.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The February 23, 1887 tsunami recorded on the Ligurian Coast, western Mediterranean

Eva

Rabinovich

1997

Geophysical Research Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Earthquakementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Earthquakementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The February 23, 1887 tsunami recorded on the Ligurian Coast, western Mediterranean

Eva

Rabinovich

1997

Geophysical Research Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Their magnitudes and locations cannot be established precisely, but the damage they caused is mentioned in many documents. More recently, in 1887, an earthquake of an estimated magnitude of 6.5 (Ferrari 1991; Eva & Rabinovich 1997; Scotti & Levret 2000; Bakun & Scotti 2004) occurred offshore, within a few kilometres of the Italian Ligurian coast. This earthquake killed hundreds of people.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seismic hazard on the French Riviera: observations, interpretations and simulations

Courboulex

Larroque

Deschamps

et al. 2007

Geophysical Journal International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

S U M M A R YWe present here a detailed analysis of a seismic data set recorded by a dense seismological network installed over 6 months in the southeast of France. This experiment was set-up at the boundary between the Ligurian basin and the southern subalpine thrust belt (the Nice arc), which is a complex tectonic region that undergoes low to moderate seismicity. We recorded more than 500 microearthquakes, among which 348 occurred exactly in the centre of the network during a very active seismic sequence that lasted mainly over 2 months.We performed an absolute location of all of the events and calculated the magnitudes. Then we applied a cross-correlation technique to gather similar events and to relocate relatively few of them. This method revealed a very clear alignment of 19 events in a direction N120 • oblique to the N20 • general trend of seismicity. Focal mechanisms were determined for the four largest events and composite solutions for 32 smaller ones. Both the alignments of the earthquakes and the focal solutions revealed that two oblique segments of the fault were activated during the crisis.The main segment (8 km long) that was oriented NNE with a left-lateral strike slip movement is called the Blausasc fault. Taking into account the tectonic evolution and the relationships between surface structures and the distribution of earthquakes, and through a paleaoreconstruction of the tectonic evolution, we propose that the Blausasc fault is the hidden root of the Peille-Laghet fault, which has a mapped length of at least 15 km. The smaller segment (0.6 km long) that was activated during the crisis could be interpreted as an antithetic Riedel fracture.The active Blausasc fault is located in a densely populated zone, at only 10 km from the crowded cities of Monaco and Nice. It is thus particularly interesting to analyse it for hazard assessment. In the last section, we present a simulation that is aimed at predicting what the ground motion in the city of Nice would be like if an earthquake of magnitude 5.7 occurs on this fault. For this, we used the recordings of the largest event of the seismic sequence (Ml = 3.2) and an empirical Green's function summation scheme to simulate the ground motion at two stations situated in urban environments. The values obtained show that especially on soft soil sites, the effects of such an earthquake would be considerable in the city of Nice.

show abstract

“…The epicentre was located at about 20 km offshore from Imperia (Italy) at the bottom of the continental slope. Ferrari (1991) who calculated the seismic characteristics of this event estimated the magnitude at 6.2-6.5. The earthquake was produced by a release of stress along the offshore normal faults oriented parallel to the coast.…”

Section: Analysis Of Historical Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of tsunami propagation in the Ligurian Sea

Pelinovsky

Kharif

Riabov

et al. 2001

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract.Tsunami propagation is analyzed for the Ligurian Sea with particular attention on the French coasts of the Mediterranean. Historical data of tsunami manifestation on the French coast are analyzed for the period 2000 B.C.-1991 A.D. Numerical simulations of potential and historical tsunamis in the Ligurian Sea are done in the context of the nonlinear shallow water theory. Tsunami wave heights as well as their distribution function is calculated for historical tsunamis and it is shown that the log-normal distribution describes reasonably the simulated data. This demonstrates the particular role of bottom irregularities for the wave height distribution function near the coastlines. Also, spectral analysis of numerical tide-gauge records is done for potential tsunamis, revealing the complex resonant interactions between the tsunami waves and the bottom oscillations. It is shown that for an earthquake magnitude of 6.8 (averaged value for the Mediterranean Sea) the tsunami phenomenon has a very local character but with long duration. For sources located near the steep continental slope in the vicinity of the French-Italian Rivera, the tsunami tide-gauge records in the vicinity of Cannes -Imperia present irregular oscillations with a characteristic period of 20-30 min and a total duration of 10-20 h. For the western French coasts the amplitudes are significantly less with characteristic low-frequency oscillations (period of 40 min-1 h).

show abstract

The 1887 Ligurian earthquake: a detailed study from contemporary scientific observations

Cited by 28 publications

References 3 publications

The February 23, 1887 tsunami recorded on the Ligurian Coast, western Mediterranean

The February 23, 1887 tsunami recorded on the Ligurian Coast, western Mediterranean

Seismic hazard on the French Riviera: observations, interpretations and simulations

Study of tsunami propagation in the Ligurian Sea

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About