Using Earthquake-Induced Damage on Historical Constructions for the Detection of the Basic Seismological Parameters of Historical Earthquakes

Abstract

Earthquake-induced damage on historical constructions can reflect the basic characteristics of earthquakes including epicenter location, the seismogenic fault type, the focal depth and the seismic intensity based on the application of macroseismic scales. Taking into account historical buildings response to recent earthquakes, it is concluded that shallow near-field events caused similar building damage. Symmetrical buckling and compression damage of structural elements, bursting of over-stressed elements, symmetrical distribution of damage around a vertical axis and other spatial homothetic motions reflect shallow near-field earthquakes with prevailing vertical component of the earthquake ground motion. Following this approach based solely on field macroseismic observations on historical structures, important conclusions related to historical earthquakes may be drawn. In the case of the 1755 Great Lisbon earthquake, data derived from on-site inspection of well-preserved still-standing damaged historical buildings in Lisbon and artworks illustrating buildings that suffered damage from this sequence were used. In brief, the studied buildings present damage with symmetrical distribution around a vertical axis and partial collapse of upper parts within their footprint. Based on the aforementioned, this damage is attributed to a shallow earthquake with epicenter located very close to Lisbon, a strong vertical component and perhaps of not so great magnitude preceding or following the 1755 Great Lisbon earthquake with epicenter determined in the ocean to the west of Lisbon and generated the devastating tsunami. It is suggested that the aforementioned approach can be applied either in historic earthquakes or complementarily in recent events when the available seismological information are inadequate.