Earthquakes in the Ionian Sea, Greece, Documented from Little-Known Historical Sources: AD 1513–1900

Abstract

The seismicity in the Ionian Sea region is very high. In the historical period, many earthquakes have been reported mainly since the 16th century. In this research, we investigated the historical seismicity in the Ionian Sea, emphasizing earthquakes that have been damaging or strongly felt on Zakynthos (Zante) island. A variety of information sources, which have not been utilized so far and covering the time period from AD 1513 to 1900, were collected and examined. The sources utilized included archives, short chronicles, marginal notes, diaries and official scientific bulletins. This research reveals new information for earthquakes that have remained unknown or little-known in the seismological tradition so far. In addition, new information was found for important and already known earthquake episodes, such as the 1886 large and extensively damaging earthquake in the southwestern Peloponnese and the prolonged and destructive earthquake sequence of 1893 on Zakynthos Island, as well as for the little-known damaging earthquake of 1898. Our research adds new information about the earthquake effects in both the built and natural environments and helps also to correct earthquake dates and to identify spurious events.

Keywords

• historical earthquakes
• macroseismic intensity
• Zakynthos Island
• Cephalonia Island
• Ionian Sea
• Greece