BRITISH GEOLOGICAL
SURVEY News Release issued by COI News Distribution Service. 19
September 2008
19 Sept 1508: was
this the day the UK's largest earthquake occurred? The 500th
anniversary of what may have been the largest earthquake ever to
affect the UK in historical times occurs on 19 September 2008. Its
size was perhaps as large as magnitude 7 (about the same size as
the Kobe earthquake of 1995). The epicentre is unknown but could
have been west of the Outer Hebrides. The mysterious earthquake of
1508 is one of the earthquakes discussed in a book recently
published on Historical Seismology.
The impact of this earthquake is poorly documented however; it
seems to have been felt across Scotland and England but without
any reported damage. This would be consistent with a large
offshore earthquake, similar to the 1929 earthquake off the coast
of Newfoundland (M=7), which produced a damaging tsunami.
"There are geological similarities between the offshore
areas of Newfoundland and the Hebrides," said Dr Roger Musson
of the British Geological Survey. "Both are low seismicity
areas, but research has shown that unexpectedly large earthquakes
can occur in seismically quiet areas, especially at the oceanic
edges of continents." Fortunately, even if the 1508
earthquake was the "Big One" for the UK, it's not
likely to happen again any time soon. "Earthquakes like this
in low seismicity areas are very rare events, something that might
happen once in several thousand years," said Dr Musson.
"Even if it did happen again, most likely the damage would be
limited because of the offshore epicentre, but it would be an
alarming experience throughout the country - just as it was in 1508."
The lack of information on the 1508 earthquake is frustrating. Dr
Musson continues, "Compared to Medieval annalists, Tudor
historians tend not to mention British earthquakes. If this
earthquake was large and had an epicentre west of the Outer
Hebrides, the worst effects would be confined to the remote areas
of north-west Scotland, and wouldn't be likely to be recorded."
The few historical sources that mention the earthquake describe
it as frightening, and felt mostly strongly in churches.
"Churches, being taller, might be more susceptible to shaking
from a large distant earthquake than ordinary houses," says
Dr Musson, "there are other possible explanations as well; an
earthquake in the Northern North Sea, for instance."
As descriptions for an earthquake in 1508 from either Norway or
Ireland are unknown, the mystery remains unsolved......
*Ends*
Notes for Editors
BGS Earthquake Seismology
* For more on earthquakes go to http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/
* For earthquake enquiries email ukeqs@bgs.ac.uk
Book reference
Multidisciplinary Advances in Historical Seismology:
Interdisciplinary Studies of Past and Recent Earthquakes (Modern
Approaches in Solid Earth Sciences) by Julien Frechet (Editor),
Mustapha Meghraoui (Editor), Massimiliano Stucchi (Editor)
Hardcover - Kluwer Academic Publishers (Jul 2008) - 446 Pages
ISBN 1402082215 - ISBN-13 9781402082214
List Price: £69.00
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