Review of historical earthquakes in the lower middle ages: Earthquakes of the XIV and XV centuries in Catalonia (NE Spain)

Abstract

In 1985 the Geological Survey of Catalonia started a project to compile a comprehensive catalogue of seismic activity in Catalonia in order to provide a correct evaluation of seismic hazard. The project concludes with the publication, in 2006, of a book that gathers the results of the interdisciplinary work carried out on the most important historical earthquakes in Catalonia, which took place in the XIV and XV centuries. One of the most prominent features of this monograph is that it provides a compilation of all the documentation concerning the earthquakes of the late medieval period. For the first time it has been possible to undertake a joint analysis of all the documentation of the earthquakes of the late medieval period in Catalonia and to evaluate these events using homogeneous criteria. In this paper some methodological aspects of this research are discussed and the main results are given. A catalogue of the earthquakes of the XIV and XV centuries has been compiled. From this catalogue it can be deduced that the earthquake with the greatest intensity, IX, occurred on 2 February 1428 (Mw about 6.5). The second largest earthquake occurred on 3 March 1373, with an epicentral intensity of VIII-IX (Mw about 6.2).