The historical seismogram collection in Strasbourg

Abstract

We present a complete inventory of the historical Strasbourg seismograms housed at the École et Observatoire des Sciences de la Terre (EOST), University of Strasbourg, France. Although published seismological records date back to 1892, the Strasbourg seismological station was officially created in 1900, with a structure specifically built for seismological monitoring. The presence of highly motivated and active scientists from the outset, along with the unique geographic and political situation of Strasbourg in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, made the city a central point for seismological research and international exchanges. A wide variety of seismographs were operated at the station throughout the 20th century. More than 130,000 records from Wiechert, Mainka, Galitzin, Peterschmitt, 19-ton pendulum, Nikiforov, and Press–Ewing instruments are preserved within the seismogram collection, with most being the original records. However, for the pre-1930 seismogram records we only have microfilm copies. We also present an inventory of the instrumental constants found in the preserved station books along with the corresponding instrumental responses.

Keywords

• Nikiforov
• Strasbourg
• Historical earthquakes
• Seismometers
• Wiechert
• Galitzin
• Mainka
• Nikiforov