Publication Date:
2017-04-04
Description:
The source mechanisms responsible for large historical tsunamis that
have struck eastern Sicily and southern Calabria are a topic of robust debate. We have
compiled a database of historical coeval descriptions of three large tsunamis: 11 January
1693, 6 February 1783, and 28 December 1908. By using accounts of run-up and
inundation and employing an approach proposed by Okal and Synolakis in 2004, we
can provide discriminants to define the nature of the near-field tsunami sources (fault
dislocation or landslide).
Historical reports for the 1908 event describe affected localities, maximum runups,
and inundation areas. However, for the 1693 and 1783 tsunamis, reports are
limited to inundation and occasional run-up estimates. We calculate run-up values
for these events using available relations between inundation and run-up. We
employed the model of Okal and Synolakis to the obtained profiles of tsunami
run-up along the inundated shorelines. The 1908 run-up data distribution confirms
that the tsunami is compatible with a seismic dislocation source, whereas the
1783 data supports contemporary observations and recent offshore investigations suggesting
that the tsunami was produced by an earthquake-triggered submarine landslide.
Analysis of the 1693 event data suggests that the tsunami was generated
during a tectonic event and thus a seismogenic source should be found offshore.
Description:
Italian CIvil Protection INGV-DPC Agreement 2004-2006
Description:
Published
Description:
2795-2805
Description:
3.2. Tettonica attiva
Description:
JCR Journal
Description:
partially_open
Keywords:
historical tsunamis
;
seismic sources
;
Sicily
;
run-up distribution
;
04. Solid Earth::04.04. Geology::04.04.01. Earthquake geology and paleoseismology
Repository Name:
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
Type:
article
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