1852 Banda Sea earthquake

Earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia November 2022 1852 Banda Sea earthquake Indonesia yes 26 November 1852 7.5 w y8.4–8.8 w y 11 -5.25 129.75 inline,title Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) +8 m feet 60+ deadTsunami Event Information https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazel/view/hazards/tsunami/event-more-info/799 National Centers for Environmental Information NOAA 18 June 2021 10.7289/V5PN93H7 National Geophysical Data Center The 1852 Banda Sea earthquake struck on 26 November at 07:40 local time, affecting coastal communities on the Banda Islands. It caused violent shaking lasting five minutes, and was assigned XI on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale in the Maluku Islands.Significant Earthquake Information https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazel/view/hazards/earthquake/event-more-info/1934 1972 National Centers for Environmental Information NOAA 18 June 2021 10.7289/V5TD9V7K National Geophysical Data Center A tsunami measuring up to 8 m slammed into the islands of Banda Neira, Saparua, Haruku and Ceram. The tsunami caused major damage, washing away many villages, ships and residents. At least 60 people were killed in the earthquake and tsunami. The earthquake had an estimated moment magnitude of 7.5 or 8.4–8.8, according to various academic studies. Tectonic setting The Banda Sea is situated in a region of complex convergence involving the Australian and Sunda plates. This complex tectonic interaction has broken the crust into a number of minor plates and microplates including the Banda Sea, Timor, Molucca Sea and Bird's Head plates. Resembling an arch, this convergent boundary is one of the most complex in the world. Oceanic lithosphere subducts to a depth greater than 600 km beneath the Banda Sea. As a consequence, the Banda Sea is a seismically active region. Many large earthquakes in the Banda Sea occur at a hypocentral depth of up to 600 km, including an w 7.6 which struck at 397 km depth.Nuretdin Kaymakci John Decker Dan Orange Philip Teas Pieter van Heiningen International Conference and Exhibition, Melbourne, Australia 13-16 September 2015 Tectonic Characteristics and Evolution Banda Sea Region SEG Global Meeting Abstracts 2015 90 10.1190/ice2015-2205090 https://library.seg.org/doi/10.1190/ice2015-2205090 SEG Library 131074367 2159-6832 These intermediate (70–300 km) and deep-focus (>300-700 km) earthquakes are the result of dip-slip faulting within the oceanic lithosphere, which usually do not result in significant impact. The w 8.5–8.6 1938 Banda Sea earthquake was an intermediate-focus thrust earthquake.M 8.5 – Banda Sea https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/official19380201190422_30/executive United States Geological Survey 18 June 2021 Earthquake 230px|thumb|An illustration of Banda Neira in the 1880s which was badly impacted by the earthquake of 1852. At about 07:40–07:50 local time on 26 November, Banda Neira was rocked by a series of intense "vertical shocks" which developed into rolling motions. The rolling motion was directed in a northwest–southeast orientation for five minutes. The first shock was so strong that nearly every home on the island collapsed. Houses that withstood the shaking were severely cracked and became uninhabitable. Papenberg, a small peak on the island, collapsed as well. Many large cracks formed at the beaches on the island. Similar effects were described on Banda Besar. The tremors were accompanied by a loud rumble described as "cannon shots".Wichmann Arthur Die erdbeben des Indischen Archipels bis zum Jahre 1857 Earthquakes of the Indian Archipelago Until the Year 1857 1918 Afdeling Natuurkunde Nederlandse Verhandelingen 193 20 GermanHarris Ron Major Jonathan Waves of destruction in the East Indies: the Wichmann catalogue of earthquakes and tsunami in the Indonesian region from 1538 to 1877 Special Publications 2016 441 9–46 https://geology.byu.edu/0000017e-60a1-d5b7-a7ff-78e7b3880001/2016-harris-and-major-eq-catalog-small-pdf 10.1144/SP441.2 19 June 2021 Geological Society, London 216996915 subscription On the islands of Rosengain and Pulau Ai, the earthquake was also felt with a great force, later assigned XI on the Mercalli intensity scale. On Haruku Island, cracks appeared in the walls of a fort and church. Damage to structures was also reported on Saparua. The island of Ambon was undamaged but felt the tremors for five minutes intensely. On Bacan Island, trees and flagstaffs were observed swaying. Three newly formed but small islands were seen after the earthquake. The islands were "soft and had a yellow golden color" to them. Coral remains and yellow sand was likely the composition of the islands. One of the islands later washed away while the remaining two had vegetation grown on them. Another island at 5.583 S 133.000 E, measuring 250 meters in diameter was also discovered. In Surabaya, Java, weak tremors were felt, but they were likely due to a separate event. Tsunami 200px|thumb|A coastal town on the island of Banda Neira. The coastlines were struck by the tsunami of 1852. The highest tsunami wave was recorded on the island of Banda Neira with a height of 8 meters. It struck the island approximately 25 minutes after the shaking had stopped. Many residents who witnessed the oncoming waves were frightened and fled for the hills. Sixty boat crews died when the tsunami overcame the breakwater and embankments where they had sought refuge. The waves carried with it many proas, smashing them against the embankment. Waves also wiped out buildings at the coast. Four separate waves were observed with regular intervals until 10:30 when the water began to calm down. On Pulau Ai, the tsunami was significant, being one meter higher than the usual flood tide level. Descriptions of the tsunami in Ambon are unclear, with sources claiming the waves were 8 meters tall while others stating they were 20 cm higher than the flood tide mark. Flood damage to homes, proas and beaches occurred on Ceram Island. Earthquake and tsunami origins 250px|thumb|right|Tectonic map of the Banda Arc Due to the lack of instrumental data, the mechanism of the earthquake is still debatable, with published sources suggesting the event was a large megathrust earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude (w) of 8.4 or greater. Other research journals claim it was a shallow normal faulting event with a smaller magnitude of 7.5. Normal fault theory A publication in 2020 led by Phil Cummins suggests the event did not occur on a megathrust fault, but rather, a shallow normal fault in the Banda Sea. The normal fault was determined as being the Banda Detachment, a shallow-dipping structure that accommodates extension of the Banda Sea. It is thought to be the only major potentially seismogenic structure to cause heavy shaking and a large tsunami. The earthquake potential and history of this structure is still poorly understood, and have never been considered a tsunami and seismic hazard to the region.Ignatius R. Pranantyo Mohammad Heidarzadeh Phil R. Cummins Complex tsunami hazards in eastern Indonesia from seismic and non-seismic sources: Deterministic modeling based on historical and modern data Geoscience Letters 2021 8 20 20 10.1186/s40562-021-00190-y 2021GSL.....8...20P 233746800 free 1885/288223 free The Weber Deep, a 7.2-km deep forearc basin between the megathrust front and Banda Arc volcanic chain is a massive fault scarp which formed when extension along the Banda Detachment started.Researchers find biggest exposed fault on Earth https://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/researchers-find-biggest-exposed-fault-on-earth Australian National University 18 June 2021 Canberra, Australia 28 November 2016 However, there have been no instrumentally recorded earthquakes on this fault, therefore, it is suggested that the structure is creeping aseismically, or that earthquakes on this fault have occurred before the birth of modern seismic instruments.Phil R. Cummins Ignatius R. Pranantyo Jonathan M. Pownall Jonathan D. Griffin Irwan Meilano Siyuan Zhao Earthquakes and tsunamis caused by low-angle normal faulting in the Banda Sea, Indonesia Nature Geoscience 2020 13 4 312–318 10.1038/s41561-020-0545-x 2020NatGe..13..312C https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-020-0545-x 18 June 2021 10138/327490 211729349 free The research presented a much smaller earthquake moment magnitude of only 7.5 with a rupture close to the Banda Islands. An earthquake anywhere on the megathrust is unlikely to result in violent ground motions as described in the historical accounts because it is too far from the islands. The study dismissed all reports of shaking felt in Surabaya, Java as being a separate, local earthquake which timing coincided with the one in the Banda Sea. This event in Java, named the Grati earthquake, is thought to have a magnitude of W 5.7–6.0 and occurred on the Pasuruan Fault.G. I. Marliyani J. R. Arrowsmith H. Helmi Evidence for Multiple Ground-Rupturing Earthquakes in the Past 4,000 Years Along the Pasuruan Fault, East Java, Indonesia: Documentation of Active Normal Faulting in the Javan Backarc Tectonics 2019 38 4 1489–1506 10.1029/2018TC005255 2019Tecto..38.1489M 134774412 https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2018TC005255 18 June 2021 subscription Explicit descriptions of the tsunami in the Banda Islands described a rise in sea level, followed by a drop. This meant the earthquake could not be sourced from a subduction zone megathrust event as such a tsunami would be observed as a drawback of the water first in the same location. The Banda Islands situated on the overriding plate would experience a negative wave first before a large tsunami could hit, thus a drawback would be observed. Furthermore, a megathrust earthquake-sourced tsunami would take much longer for it to hit the islands, while historic descriptions stated that the tsunami arrived 20 minutes after the five minutes of shaking. The research paper presented two nearby plausible tsunami sources; the western seafloor expression of the Banda Detachment at 100 km south southeast of Banda Neira, or a slump on the eastern edge of the Weber Deep. Modeling the tsunami sourced by a slump fits the well-documented accounts of the tsunami better. The associated tsunami therefore was caused by submarine slumping triggered by the W y 7.5 earthquake. Megathrust theory 300px|thumb|right|Cross section of the Banda Arc In a 2016 study by Fisher and Harris, they concluded that the earthquake and tsunami was the result of thrust faulting on a subduction zone. A series of reconstructions with varying locations and maximum slip yielded moment magnitudes of 8.4–8.8. Using the models, they concluded that the earthquake was a thrust faulting, megathrust event which ruptured a subduction zone along the Tanimbar Trough. They estimate at least 10–15 m of slip had been cumulated, which would suggest a minimum moment magnitude of 8.4.Fisher, T.L. Harris, R.A. Reconstruction of 1852 Banda Arc megathrust earthquake and tsunami Natural Hazards 2016 83 1 667–689 10.1007/s11069-016-2345-6 2016NatHa..83..667F 131107365 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11069-016-2345-6 18 June 2021 subscription A 2021 paper led by Hayden Ringer and others suggested a larger moment magnitude of 8.8, southeast of Seram Island.H. Ringer J. P. Whitehead J. Krometis R. A. Harris N. Glatt-Holtz S. Giddens C. Ashcraft G. Carver A. Robertson M. Harward J. Fullwood K. Lightheart R. Hilton A. Avery C. Kesler M. Morrise M. H. Klein Methodological Reconstruction of Historical Seismic Events From Anecdotal Accounts of Destructive Tsunamis: A Case Study for the Great 1852 Banda Arc Mega-Thrust Earthquake and Tsunami Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 2021 126 4 10.1029/2020JB021107 http://www.geology.byu.edu/Home/sites/default/files/2021_jgr_banda_1852_reconstruciton.pdf 19 June 2021 2009.14272 2021JGRB..12621107R 222066748 9 October 2022 https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.geology.byu.edu/Home/sites/default/files/2021_jgr_banda_1852_reconstruciton.pdf dead The authors noted Phil Cummins' conclusion (normal fault theory) that the resulting tsunami was by an earthquake-triggered slump of low possibility because the 1938 Banda Sea earthquake did not trigger a large tsunami from a major submarine landslide. Modeling of their earthquake showed that the 1852 event had a magnitude of approximately 8.8 w. The earthquake epicenter coordinate is at 4.5 S 131.5 E, southeast of Seram Island. A tsunami model for rupture along the Seram Trough fits well with arrival time and run-up data. They also noted the tsunami reached distant locations with heights greater than what would be expected for a landslide-induced tsunami. Had the tsunami been triggered by a submarine landslide, the waves would have weakened significantly at a faster rate than if triggered by faulting. Cummins counter-argued the megathrust claim by Fisher and Harris on the absence of a drawback along the coast which was not described in observational accounts but reflected in their model. However, the accounts of survivors recalled a surge in seawater, followed by the tsunami waves. Ringer's paper stated that the non-existent record of a drawback associated with the negative wave does not rule out the plausibility of a megathrust earthquake. His team also distinguished the day and period of the event, which was during the spring tide, meaning tide levels were at extreme lows. This meant even a negative wave would not cause a significant difference in sea level. It is therefore unlikely that Dutch officials would document a barely noticeable change in tide level. See also List of earthquakes in Indonesia List of historical earthquakes List of tsunamis References External links Earthquakes and tsunamis caused by low angle normal faulting in the Banda Sea – Indonesia Presented by Phil R. Cummins Category:1852 in Southeast Asia Category:1852 earthquakes Category:19th-century tsunamis Category:19th-century floods in Asia Category:1850s floods Category:November 1852 Category:Megathrust earthquakes in Indonesia Category:Tsunamis in Indonesia Category:Banda Sea Category:1850s disasters in Asia Category:1852 disasters in Oceania Category:19th-century disasters in Indonesia