Tremblement de terre de Bâle de 1356 → 1356 Basel earthquake ---- (more info)

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•  Comment: French article is short but well-referenced. No English article appears to exist, though the earthquake is mentioned at Basel and List of earthquakes.
  
•  Requested by: Carcharoth 00:35, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
  
•  Interest of the translation: One of the larger known earthquakes before the 20th century, evidence of which is still seen today in Basel (cracks in walls of Basel Cathedral). Interesting bits of history and science, and lots has been written about it (2006 was the 650th anniversary of the earthquake). See this Google search for more information.
  
•  Translator(s): User:Jonolumb
  
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•  Permanent link to the translated version: 22/12/2006

Join this translation   ---   Update this information (instructions) Image File history File links ISO_639_Icon_en. ... Image File history File links Fairytale_messagebox_info. ... Image File history File links Nuvola_apps_gaim. ... Basel (British English traditionally: Basle and more recently Basel , German: Basel , French: Bâle , Italian: Basilea ) is Switzerlands third most populous city (166,563 inhabitants (2004); 690,000 inhabitants in the conurbation stretching across the immediate cantonal and national boundaries made Basel Switzerlands second-largest urban area as... The following is a list of major earthquakes. ... Image File history File links Nuvola_apps_edu_languages. ... Image File history File links Fairytale_messagebox_info. ... Image File history File links Nuvola_apps_edu_languages. ... Image File history File links Nuvola_apps_gaim. ... Image File history File links Nuvola_apps_gaim. ...

 

The Basel earthquake of 1356, also known as the Great Basel Earthquake and the 1356 Basel earthquake, is the most significant historic seismological event to have occurred in Central Europe to date. The earthquake destroyed the town of Basel (Switzerland) on 18 October 1356 and caused much destruction in a vast region extending into France and Germany. Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. ... This article is about the natural seismic phenomenon. ... Basel (British English traditionally: Basle and more recently Basel , German: Basel , French: Bâle , Italian: Basilea ) is Switzerlands third most populous city (166,563 inhabitants (2004); 690,000 inhabitants in the conurbation stretching across the immediate cantonal and national boundaries made Basel Switzerlands second-largest urban area as... October 18 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years). ... Events January 20 - Edward Balliol surrenders title as King of Scotland to Edward III of England April 16 — the King of the Serbian Kingdom of Raška Stefan Dušan is proclaimed Tsar (Emperor) of all Serbs, Arbanasses and Greeks in Skopje by the Serbian Orthodox Christian Patriarch of a...

The epicentre was actually located in Germany, in the Upper Rhine valley (Rhine rift) between Waldkirch and St. Peter in Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald. The epicenter or epicentre (ancient Greek: επίκεντρον) is the point on the Earths surface that is directly above or below the center of a localized explosive event or point of seismic energy release. ... The Upper Rhine is the part of the Rhine that flows between Basel and Bingen. ... The Rhine Rift is a striking reminder of the tectonic plates that created Europe. ... Waldkirch is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. ... Breisgau_Hochschwarzwald is a Kreis (district) in the south of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. ...

The earthquake was felt by people far away, in Zürich, Konstanz and even as far as Ile-de-France). The maximum seismic intensity registered on the MSK scale was of IX-X. The macroseismic map was established notably on the basis of damages reported by the region's 30 to 40 castles ^{[1] [2]}. From this macroseismic data, the Mw magnitude of the earthquake was estimated at around 6.2.^[2] Zürich (German:   , Zürich German: Züri , in English generally Zurich, Italian: Zurigo) is the largest city in Switzerland (population: 366,145 in 2004; population of urban area: 1,091,732) and capital of the canton of Zürich. ... Konstanz in 1925 seen from the lake Schnetztor, a section of the former city wall Another gate from city wall Shops in Konstanz The Konzilgebäude in Konstanz Konstanz (in English formerly known as Constance) is a university town of around 80,000 inhabitants at the western end of Lake... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Medvedev-Sponheuer-Karnik scale (MSK-64) is a macroseismic intensity scale used to measure the effects of earthquakes on humans, objects of nature, and structures. ... The moment magnitude scale was introduced in 1979 by Tom Hanks and Hiroo Kanamori as a successor to the Richter scale and is used by seismologists to compare the energy released by earthquakes. ...

The earthquake took place during the evening at around 22:00 (local time) and numerous aftershock's followed on the night between the 18th and 19th of October^[3]. The town experienced a second, very violent shock in the middle of the night. The town within the ramparts was destroyed by a fire as the wooden houses caught fire when torches and candles fell to the floor. The seismic crisis lasted a year. The number of deaths is estimated at 300 people, only counting those in the town of Basel. Aftershocks are earthquakes in the same region of the mainshock (generally within a few rupture length) but of smaller magnitude and which occur with in a pattern that follows Omoris law. ... Basel (British English traditionally: Basle and more recently Basel , German: Basel , French: Bâle , Italian: Basilea ) is Switzerlands third most populous city (166,563 inhabitants (2004); 690,000 inhabitants in the conurbation stretching across the immediate cantonal and national boundaries made Basel Switzerlands second-largest urban area as...

The modelling of the macroseismic data ^[2] suggests that the earthquake's source was E-W orientated, a direction corresponding with the overlapping faults on the Jura Front^[4]. On the other hand, recent paleoseismologic studies attribute instead the cause of this earthquake to a normal fault, NNE-SSW orientated and south of the town^[5]. The significant magnitude of the event suggests a possible extension of this fault under the town itself. Looking towards Lelex from near to Crêt de La Neige The Jura folds are located north of the main Alpine orogenic front and are being continually deformed, accommodating the northwards compression due to Alpine folding. ... Old fault exposed by roadcut near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. ...

This earthquake is also known as the 'Séisme de la Saint Luc', as 18 October is the feast day of Luke the Evangelist. Luke was, according to tradition, the painter of the first icon Luke the Evangelist (Greek Loukas) is said by tradition to be the author of both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, the third and fifth books of the New Testament. ...

Sources

1. ^ Mayer-Rosa D. et B. Cadiot (1979). A review of the 1356 Basel earthquake: basic data, Tectonophysics, 53, pp 325-333
2. ^ ^{a b c} Lambert J., Winter T., Dewez T. J. B. et P. Sabourault (2005). New hypotheses on the maximum damage area of the 1356 Basel earthquake (Switzerland), Quaternary Science Reviews, 24 , pp 383-401
3. ^ Von Waltenkofen K. (1357). Alphabetum Narrationum.
4. ^ Meyer, B., Lacassin, R., Brulhet, J., Mouroux, B., 1994. The Basel 1356 earthquake: which fault produced it? Terra Nova 6, 54–63
5. ^ Meghraoui M., Delouis B., Ferry M., Giardini D., Huggenberger P., Spottke I. et M. Granet (2001). Active Normal Faulting in the Upper Rhine Graben and Paleoseismic Identification of the 1356 Basel Earthquake. Science, 293, pp 2070-2073. doi: 10.1126/science.1010618

See Also

Switzerland Portal