The Seismicity of Egypt, Arabia and the Red Sea: A Historical Review

202 Pages·2005·17.61 MB·English

by  N. N. Ambraseys

A careful and intensive study of historical sources and a
review of the instrumental data of this century have led to
this detailed catalogue of earthquakes. Egypt, Arabia, the
Red Sea region and the surrounding areas of Libya,
Sudan and Ethiopia are studied from the earliest times to
the present day. Each earthquake is described as fully as
possible from the available data, and is analysed in a
geographical and historical context. The completeness of
the earthquake catalogue over time is analysed and the
range of sources and problems associated with the
scrutiny of historical sources are discussed. The
information is then placed in a geophysical framework.

The seismicity of Egypt, Arabia
and the Red Sea:
a historical review

The Seismicity of
Egypt, Arabia and the
Red Sea
a historical review
N. N. AMBRASEYS
Department of Civil Engineering, Imperial College, London
C. P. MELVILLE
Faculty of Oriental Studies and Fellow of Pembroke College,
Cambridge
and
R. D.ADAMS
International Seismological Centre, Newbury and PRIS,
University of Reading
KING ABDULAZIZ
CITY FOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521391207
© Cambridge University Press 1994
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1994
This digitally printed first paperback version 2005
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Ambraseys, N. N. (Nicholas Nicholas), 1929-
The seismicity of Egypt, Arabia, and the Red Sea : a historical
review / N. N. Ambraseys, C. P. Melville, and R. D. Adams,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-521-39120-2
1. Earthquakes - Middle East - History - Chronology. 2. Earthquakes -
Egypt - History - Chronology. I. Melville, C. P. (Charles Peter),
1951- . II. Adams, R. D. (Robin Dartrey), 1930- . III. Title.
QE537.2.M628A43 1995
551.2'2'0956-dc20 94-265 CIP
ISBN-13 978-0-521-39120-7 hardback
ISBN-10 0-521-39120-2 hardback
ISBN-13 978-0-521-02025-1 paperback
ISBN-10 0-521-02025-5 paperback
To Xeni, Alison and Thelma,
for putting up with all this

Contents
Preface xi 3 Instrumental information in
A note on transliteration XV 3.1 Instrumental coverage in
A note on chronology xvii 3.2 Reassessment techniques and
Acknowledgements xix derivation of the catalogue 112
Location 112
Introduction 1 Magnitude determination and
I.I Area of study 1 attenuation relationships 115
Regional seismicity and seismotectonics 3 Magnitude derived from number of
Historical seismicity 4 recording stations 116
1.2 Sources of macroseismic Magnitude derived from felt effects 116
information 4 Felt effects in Egypt from offshore
The pre-Islamic period 6 earthquakes 117
Islamic period (from AD 622) 6 3.3 Catalogue of earthquakes
Arabic sources 7 (1899-1992) 118
Ethiopia 8 3.4 Spurious and mislocated events 139
European travel literature 8
Diplomatic correspondence 9 4 Conclusions 145
Newspapers 9 4.1 Completeness of the historical
Previous earthquake catalogues 9 earthquake catalogue 145
1.3 Assessment of macroseismic data 11 4.2 Regional distribution of seismicity 150
Location 12 4.3 Seismicity of Egypt, Arabia and the
Egypt 12 Red Sea 158
The Yemen 15
Intensity assessment 15 References 161
Felt area 18 Abbreviations and conventions 161
Depth 18 Manuscript sources 162
Arabic historical texts 162
Macroseismic information 19 European languages 162
2.1 Descriptive catalogue of Printed editions of historical texts 162
earthquakes (184 BC-AD 1992) 20 Arabic sources 162
2.2 Catalogue of earthquakes Other languages 165
(184 BC-AD 1899) 100 Printed modern works 165
2.3 Unidentified events 106
2.4 False and mislocated events 107 Index 173