1356 Basel earthquake

6.0–7.1 MW earthquake in Switzerland October 2024 1356 Basel earthquake Erdbeben Basel Jauslin.JPG Basel earthquake as envisioned by Karl Jauslin Switzerland yes 18 October 1356 22:00 6.0–7.1 w y 47.5 7.6 inline,title Basel, Prince-Bishopric of Basel IX – 10 1,000 thumb|Erdbebenkreuz ("Earthquake cross") in Reinach The 1356 Basel earthquake is the most significant seismological event to have occurred in Central Europe in recorded historyhttp://www.rms.com/publications/BaselReport_650year_retrospective.pdf 1356 Basel Earthquake: A 650-Year Retrospective 2006 Risk Management Solutions 7 January 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20120229131725/http://www.rms.com/publications/BaselReport_650year_retrospective.pdf 29 February 2012 The most damaging intraplate earthquake known to have occurred in central Europe and had a moment magnitude in the range of 6.0–7.1.Centrale Nucléaire de Fessenheim : appréciation du risque sismique https://web.archive.org/web/20110720000723/http://www.kantonslabor-bs.ch/files/presse/93_3_Expertise-Fessenheim-f.pdf 20 July 2011 RÉSONANCE Ingénieurs-Conseils SA, published 2007-09-05, pages 12, 13 This earthquake, which occurred on 18 October 1356, is also known as the Sankt-Lukas-Tag Erdbebenhttps://altbasel.ch/dossier/erdbeben.html Das Erdbeben von 1356 24 October 2006 Altbasel.ch de (English: Saint Luke's Day Earthquake), as 18 October is the feast day of Saint Luke the Evangelist. Earthquake After a foreshock between 19:00 and 20:00 local time, the main earthquake struck at around 22:00, and numerous aftershocks followed through that night.Von Waltenkofen K. (1357). Alphabetum Narrationum.The reference is incompete, but looks like it is citing a fourteenth-century German translation of the Alphabetum narrationum, which cannot possibly have contained the level of detail attributed to it. October 2025 Basel experienced a second, very violent shock in the middle of the night. The town within the ramparts was destroyed by a fire when torches and candles falling to the floor set the wooden houses ablaze. The number of deaths within the town of Basel is estimated at 300. All major churches and castles within a 30 km mi on radius of Basel were destroyed. The seismic crisis lasted a year. The modeling of the macroseismic data suggests that the earthquake's source had an east–west orientation, a direction corresponding with the overlapping faults on the Jura Front.Meyer, B., Lacassin, R., Brulhet, J., Mouroux, B., 1994. "The Basel 1356 earthquake: which fault produced it?" Terra Nova 6, 54–63. On the other hand, recent paleoseismic studies attribute the cause of this earthquake to a normal fault, oriented NNE-SSW and south of the town.Meghraoui M. Active Normal Faulting in the Upper Rhine Graben and Paleoseismic Identification of the 1356 Basel Earthquake Science 293 5537 2001 0036-8075 10.1126/science.1010618 3084555 2070–2073 11557888 2001Sci...293.2070M 34852180 The significant magnitude of the event suggests a possible extension of this fault under the town.Ferry M. Meghraoui M. Delouis B. Giardini D. 2005 Evidence for Holocene palaeoseismicity along the Basel—Reinach active normal fault (Switzerland): a seismic source for the 1356 earthquake in the Upper Rhine graben Geophysical Journal International 160 2 554–572 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2005.02404.x 2005GeoJI.160..554F free 20.500.11850/33737 free Location Due to the limited records of the event, a variety of epicenters have been proposed for the earthquake. Some of the proposed locations include faults beneath the Jura Mountains or along the Basel-Reinach escarpment. Another study placed the epicenter 10 km mi on south of Basel.Fäh D Gisler, M. Jaggi, B. Kästli, P. Lutz, T. Masciadri, V. Matt, C. Mayer-Rosa, D. Rippmann, D. Schwarz-Zanetti, G. Tauber, J. Wenk, T The 1356 Basel earthquake: an interdisciplinary revision. Geophysical Journal International July 2009 178 1 351–374 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04130.x 2009GeoJI.178..351F free 20.500.11850/21256 free Intensity The earthquake was felt as far away as Zurich, Konstanz, and even in Île-de-France. The maximum intensity registered on the Medvedev–Sponheuer–Karnik scale was IX–X (Destructive–Devastating). The macroseismic map was established on the basis of damage reported by the region's 30 to 40 castles.New hypotheses on the maximum damage area of the 1356 Basel earthquake (Switzerland) Lambert J. Winter T. Dewez T. J. B. Sabourault P. 2005 Quaternary Science Reviews 24 3–4 381–399 10.1016/j.quascirev.2004.02.019 2005QSRv...24..381LD. Mayer-Rosa and B. Cadiot (1979). "A review of the 1356 Basel earthquake: basic data", Tectonophysics, 53, pp. 325–333. From this macroseismic data, various studies have been conducted to estimate the moment magnitude of the earthquake, which have resulted in various values of 6.2 (BRGM 1998); 6.0 (GEO-TER 2002); 6.9 (SED 2004) with a follow-up report suggesting a range of between 6.7 and 7.1; 6.6 (GFZ 2006); and a major Swiss study by 21 European experts, with American involvement, in which four sub-groups estimated values of 6.9, 6.9, 6.5 to 6.9, and 6.5 ± 0.5 (PEGASOS 2002–2004). There are also different opinions about which faults were involved. Damage The earthquake destroyed the city of Basel, Switzerland, near the southern end of the Upper Rhine Graben, and caused much destruction in a vast region extending from Paris to Prague. Though major earthquakes are common at the seismically active edges of tectonic plates in Turkey, Greece, and Italy, intraplate earthquakes are rare events in Central Europe. According to the Swiss Seismological Service, of more than 10,000 earthquakes in Switzerland over the past 800 years, only half a dozen of them have registered more than 6.0 on the Richter scale.Bradley Simon 18 October 2006 Switzerland prepares for seismic calamity https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/switzerland-prepares-for-seismic-calamity/5506986 19 October 2020 SwissInfo See also Switzerland 1356 Lisbon earthquake Fessenheim Nuclear Power Plant Induced seismicity in Basel List of earthquakes in Switzerland List of historical earthquakes References Further reading Becker Arnfried Rockfalls triggered by the Basle earthquake on October 18, 1356 Jahresberichte und Mitteilungen des Oberrheinischen Geologischen Vereins 105 17 May 2023 0078-2947 10.1127/jmogv/105/0011 257–283 259059278 External links Catholic Encyclopedia article on the Diocese of Basel makes mentions the earthquake Das Grosse Beben von Basel im Jahr 1356 Critical description of the earthquake and its consequences de Preparing a seismic hazard model for Switzerland: The view from PEGASOS Expert Group 3 Basel earthquake, 1356 Category:Reinach, Basel-Landschaft 1356 Basel Basel Earthquake, 1356 Category:14th century in Switzerland Category:Earthquakes in Europe Category:Natural disasters in Germany Category:History of Basel