One of GEM's global projects, carried out by experts from INGV and BGS, in collaboration with historical earthquake experts from around the globe.

1. Tools for compiling the
Global Earthquake History
Paola Albini1 | Roger M.W. Musson2 |
Antonio A. Gomez Capera1 | Mario Locati1 | Andrea Rovida1 |
Massimiliano Stucchi1 | Daniele Viganò1 |
1 Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, INGV, Milano, Italy
2 British Geological Survey, BGS, Edinburgh, UK

2. Global Earthquake History: the project
‣ Three main goals:
‒ Global Historical Earthquake Archive-GHEA
‒ Global Large Historical Earthquake Catalogue-GLHECAT
‒ IT Infrastructure and website
‣ Fulfilled by establishing an innovative set of methodological
and technological tools
‣ Time coverage: 1000-1903
‣ Magnitude range : ≥7 (at the outset of the project)

3. Global Earthquake History: the project (cont)
Study A Study B Study C Study D
Earthquake 1 Earthquake 2
Global Historical Earthquake
Archive
Selection criteria
Global Large Historical Earthquake Catalogue

4. The Global Historical Earthquake Archive - GHEA
Overall goal in compiling the Global Historical Earthquake
Archive:
‣ To identify, collect and critically organise the best and most
recent information available for earthquakes in the time-
window 1000-1903 and magnitude equal to or higher than 7
‣ Information not from primary sources, but from published
material, such as:
‒ Papers, reports, and volumes
‒ Sets of Macroseismic Data Points
‒ Parametric Catalogues

5. GHE Archive: from Studies to Records-1833 Nyalam eq
Szeliga et al., 2010
Martin & Szeliga, 2010
Bilham, 1995
Ambraseys & Douglas, 2004
Bhatia et al., 1999

6. GHE Archive: from Studies to Records-1833 Nyalam eq
China SSB & FU, 1990b
Min Ziqun, 1995

7. GHE Archive: from Studies to Records-1833 Nyalam eq
• M values range from
7.6 to 8.0
• Epicentral location varies
considerably
• The solution by the
Chinese catalogue, Min
Ziqun, 1995 (highlight in
yellow) is adopted
• NB: in bordering areas the
comprehensive vision of
the GEH Archive can
suggest new insights

8. GHE Archive and Number of Records per Earthquake
Multiplicity of Studies for each Earthquake

9. GHE Archive in Numbers
The Archive contains:
‣ 236 studies
‣ critically analysed and inventoried
‣ selected (thousands of pages scanned)
‣ 994 earthquakes
‣ 3,154 records compiled (in the database underlying the Archive)
‣ 17 fakes

10. GHE Archive in Numbers (cont)
The Archive contains also:
‣ 77 studies in the Archive containing Macroseismic Data Points
‣ 12, 282 Macroseismic Data Points re-compiled
from 69 studies for a total of 292 (out of 994) earthquakes

11. GHE Archive and Number of Macroseismic Data Points
292 earthquakes with 12,582 macroseismic data

12. The Global Large Historical Earthquake Catalogue - GLHECAT
Overall goal in compiling the Catalogue:
‣ The material upon which GLHE Catalogue is built is supplied by
the GHE Archive, selected because of
‒ public availability
‒ clarity and reliability
‣ The Archive content was analysed on a region-by-region and in
most cases an earthquake-by-earthquake basis
‣ The Catalogue results from comparing the sets of parameters
available for each earthquake and selecting the best-attested
(checked against the studies and their data)

13. GLHE Catalogue in Numbers
The Catalogue contains:
‣ 827 earthquakes (out of 994 in the GHE Archive)
‣ 110 earthquakes with M<7 (mostly in intraplate areas)
‣ 167 earthquakes not included (a magnitude <7 was assigned)
‣ 92 studies (out of the 236 archived) supplying the parameters

14. GLHE Catalogue in Time
32 earthquakes

15. GLHE Catalogue in Time
37 earthquakes

16. GLHE Catalogue in Time
101 earthquakes

17. GLHE Catalogue in Time
132 earthquakes

18. GLHE Catalogue in Time
209 earthquakes

19. GLHE Catalogue in Time
316 earthquakes

20. GLHE Catalogue in Time 1000-1903
827 earthquakes

21. NOAA Catalogue 1000-1903 and M≥7
371 earthquakes

22. GLHE Catalogue 1000-1903 M≥7
717 earthquakes

23. GLHE Catalogue vs NOAA Catalogue, Himalayas (1)
11 eqs in NOAA Catalogue vs 20 eqs in GLHE Catalogue

24. GLHE Catalogue vs NOAA Catalogue, Himalayas (2)
Differences in location

25. GLHE Catalogue vs NOAA Catalogue, Himalayas (3)
Comparison between Magnitudes

26. GLHE Catalogue vs NOAA Catalogue, Indonesia
NOAA Catalogue: 6 earthquakes GLHE Catalogue: 75 earthquakes

27. The IT Infrastructure and Website: accessing the Archive

28. Accessing the Archive (cont)
The archive is accessed by means of a website where a two depth
level approach has been implemented:
‣ a general view with the list of all earthquakes
‣ a detailed view with all the archived items on an earthquake

29. Global Earthquake History
Study A Study B Study C Study D
Earthquake 1 Earthquake 2
Global Historical Earthquake
Archive
Selection criteria
Global Large Historical Earthquake Catalogue

30. Global Earthquake History: an “alive and kicking” Archive
‣ The Global Historical Earthquake Archive provides a complete
(so far as is possible) account of the global situation in
historical seismology, with all existing studies collected
together in a syncretic way, retrievable either by earthquake or
region.
‣ The Global Large Historical Earthquake Catalogue is the best
global historical catalogue of large earthquakes presently
available with the best parameters selected, duplications and
fakes removed, and new earthquakes discovered.
‣ The full title of the project is “Tools for compiling a Global
Earthquake History”: the history itself is not yet fully written,
and, as should be clear, much writing remains to be done.