Geoarchaeological evidence on a Late Bronze Age earthquake, Ohrid Basin (North Macedonia (original) (raw)
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Climate of the Past Discussions, 2012
Lake Ohrid shared by the Republics of Albania and Macedonia is formed by a tectonically active graben within the South Balkan and suggested to be the oldest lake in Europe. Several studies have shown that the lake provides a valuable record of climatic and environmental changes and a distal tephrostratigraphic record of volcanic 5 eruptions from Italy. Fault structures identified in seismic data demonstrate that sediments have also the potential to record tectonic activity in the region. Here, we provide an example of linking tephrostratigraphic information and environmental changes with tectonic activity and anthropogenic impact. Historical documents indicate that a major earthquake destroyed the city of Ohrid in the early 6th century AD. This earthquake 10 is documented in multichannel seismic profiles, in parametric sediment echosounder profiles, and in a ca. 10 m long sediment record from the western part of the lake. The sediment record exhibits a ca. 2 m thick mass wasting deposit, which is chronologically well constrained by the underlying 472 AD/512 AD tephra and cross correlation with other sediment sequences with similar geochemical characteristics of the Holocene. 15 25 is 293 m (Lindhorst et al., 2012a). The current lake level is at 693 m above sea level 4334 CPD 8, 4333-4355, 2012
Possible earthquake trigger for 6th century mass wasting deposit at Lake Ohrid (Macedonia/Albania)
Climate of the Past, 2012
Lake Ohrid shared by the Republics of Albania and Macedonia is formed by a tectonically active graben within the south Balkans and suggested to be the oldest lake in Europe. Several studies have shown that the lake provides a valuable record of climatic and environmental changes and a distal tephrostratigraphic record of volcanic eruptions from Italy. Fault structures identified in seismic data demonstrate that sediments have also the potential to record tectonic activity in the region. Here, we provide an example of linking seismic and sedimentological information with tectonic activity and historical documents. Historical documents indicate that a major earthquake destroyed the city of Lychnidus (today: city of Ohrid) in the early 6th century AD. Multichannel seismic profiles, parametric sediment echosounder profiles, and a 10.08 m long sediment record from the western part of the lake indicate a 2 m thick mass wasting deposit, which is tentatively correlated with this earthquake. The mass wasting deposit is chronologically well constrained, as it directly overlays the AD 472/AD 512 tephra. Moreover, radiocarbon dates and cross correlation with other sediment sequences with similar geochemical characteristics of the Holocene indicate that the mass wasting event took place prior to the onset of the Medieval Warm Period, and is attributed it to one of the known earthquakes in the region in the early 6th century AD.
Historical seismicity, palaeoseismicity and seismic risk in Western Macedonia, Northern Greece
Journal of Geodynamics, 1998
Western Macedonia, Northern Greece, was a seismically quiescent region for one or more centuries, and was regarded as a nearly aseismic, rigid block inside a broad zone of distributed continental deformation and faulting, and a region of minimum seismic risk. Consequently, the May 13, 1995 destructive earthquake (M = 6.6) which hit this assumed aseismic zone was a surprise for scientists, government and population.
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 2004
The Atalanti fault bounds to the southwest the Evoikos Gulf, one of the major extensional basins of central Greece. This fault ruptured during the 1894 earthquakes, producing at the surface a complex, ca. 30-km-long rupture. Paleoseismological trenching performed at three sites along this fault provided the first insights on its seismogenic behavior. Unfavorable trench stratigraphy and scarcity of datable material made the identification and characterization of individual paleoearthquakes quite difficult. However, by integrating paleoseismological, geological, historical, and archaeoseismological data, we defined three surface-faulting earthquakes. The most recent event is the 1894 earthquake; the penultimate occurred during the Middle Ages between A.D. 770 and 1160, whereas the third event back occurred in Roman times between 50 B.C. and A.D. 230 and is interpreted to be the Opus earthquake of A.D. 105. These results suggest that 1894-type earthquakes repeat each 660-1120 yr. The average minimum slip per event and vertical slip rates are of the order of 45 cm and 0.4-1.6 mm/yr, respectively. These values are in agreement with other geological estimates and with geodetic measurements. Because of the short time elapsed since the 1894 earthquake, the Atalanti fault does not appear to contain an important seismogenic potential. On the other hand, these results may shed light on the potential of other seismogenic sources threatening the area.
Geosciences, 2024
Human habitat is much controlled by the landscape and its ongoing processes overtime. Some of these processes occur instantaneously and are often triggered by seismic events with a major destructive impact on the human-built environment. Helike, on the southwest shore of the Gulf of Corinth, is a characteristic case of an ancient habitation site bearing witness to repetitious natural disasters from the Early Bronze Age to the Late Antiquity. The Late Classical-Hellenistic site, revived in the Helike plain after the 373 BC earthquake, has been systematically investigated thanks to the multidisciplinary research and excavations of the Helike Project in the last 35 years. This work has significantly enriched the historical seismicity of the region and shed light on past human-environment relationships. The study of the architectural remains excavated by the Helike Project, coupled with geological and soil micromorphological analysis on archaeological soils and sediments of the settlement, demonstrates a constant effort of the Helike people to reconcile with the elements of nature. Our results underline the destruction of a flourishing textile dyeworks operated at the settlement, due to a strong earthquake which triggered extensive morphological changes in a broader area. These changes include co-seismic liquefaction and lateral spreading, and post-seismic changes in the gradient of river channels. The former changes attest to an uplift in the headwater area and subsidence in the lowland plain of the ravine flowing near the ancient site.
Understanding the 13 May 1995 western Macedonia earthquake: a paleoseismological approach
Paleoseismological research by means of trenching in the area that was affected by the Kozani-Grevena strong (Ms = 6.6) earthquake sequence, revealed evidence for past reactivations of the same seismogenic fault. Five trenches were excavated along the Palaeochori-Sarakina part of the fault, in which three surface faulting paleoevents were identified at ca. 8.97, 36.7 and 72.5 ka BP (TL dates). Recurrence interval based on these datings is about 30 ka, which is very long, verifying the 'low seismicity' status of the area. On this basis, the 1995 earthquake was an out of sequence event, because the elapse time since the last major event is 8.97 ka instead of 30. Assuming a constant rate of strain accumulation, this would also explain the small amount of surface displacement that was observed during the 1995 earthquake (maximum 18 cm, usually up to 10 cm) in respect to the displacements observed in the trenches (< 25 cm) for previous paleoevents.
Late Minoan (LM) IIIB (∼1300-1200 B.C.) represents a crucial period in the history of Bronze Age Crete, heralding the transition to the Iron Age through a wave of site destruction and abandonment. According to the traditional view, earthquakes may have played a significant role in these events. A new archaeoseismological approach is proposed to test this hypothesis and to attribute destruction and abandonment to earthquakes. Potential earthquake archaeological effects (PEAEs) are defined and documented at LM IIIB sites. Synchronisms of PEAEs between sites are based on ceramic evidence. The reliability of the PEAEs is furthermore assessed using empirical ground-motion relationships defined for three types of earthquake mechanisms that can be considered to occur in the seismotectonic context of Crete:
Journal of Structural Geology, 2001
Most coastal sectors which show evidence of Holocene coseismic uplift in Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean were raised during a short period called here the Early Byzantine tectonic paroxysm (EBTP) between the middle of the fourth and the middle of the sixth century. A.D. The areas uplifted at that time include Cephaloha and Zante in the Ionian Islands, Lechaion and the Perachora Peninsula in the Gulf of Corinth, the Pelion coast of Thessaly, Antikythira and the whole of western Crete, a coastal sector near Alanya in southern Turkey, and the entire Levant coast from Hatay (Turkey) to Syria and the Lebanon. The amount of the EBTP uplift was generally between 0.5 m and 1.0 m but reached a maximum of about 9 m in s0uthwestem Crete.