The 1356 Basel earthquake is the most significant seismological event to have occurred in Central Europe in recorded history and had a moment magnitude in the range of 6.0–7.1.Centrale Nucléaire de Fessenheim : appréciation du risque sismique
RÉSONANCE Ingénieurs-Conseils SA, published 2007-09-05, pages 12, 13 This earthquake, which occurred on 18 October 1356, is also known as the Sankt-Lukas-Tag Erdbeben (English: Earthquake of Saint Luke), as 18 October is the

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

of Saint Luke the Evangelist.

Earthquake

After a foreshock between 19:00 and 20:00 local time, the main earthquake struck in the evening at around 22:00, and numerous

aftershock In seismology, an aftershock is a smaller earthquake that follows a larger earthquake, in the same area of the main shock, caused as the displaced crust adjusts to the effects of the main shock. Large earthquakes can have hundreds to thousand ...

s followed through that night. Basel experienced a second, very violent shock in the middle of the night. The town within the ramparts was destroyed by a fire when torches and candles falling to the floor set the wooden houses ablaze. The number of deaths within the town of Basel is estimated at 300. All major churches and castles within a radius of Basel were destroyed. The seismic crisis lasted a year. The modeling of the macroseismic data suggests that the earthquake's source had an east–west orientation, a direction corresponding with the overlapping faults on the Jura Front. On the other hand, recent paleoseismologic studies attribute the cause of this earthquake to a normal fault, oriented NNE-SSW and south of the town. The significant magnitude of the event suggests a possible extension of this fault under the town.

Location

Due to the limited records of the event, a variety of epicenters have been proposed for the earthquake. Some of the proposed locations include faults beneath the

Jura Mountains The Jura Mountains ( , , , ; french: Massif du Jura; german: Juragebirge; it, Massiccio del Giura, rm, Montagnas da Jura) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the Frenc ...

or along the Basel-Reinach escarpment. Another study placed the epicenter south of Basel.

Intensity

The earthquake was felt as far away as Zürich, Konstanz, and even in Île-de-France. The maximum intensity registered on the Medvedev–Sponheuer–Karnik scale was IX–X (''Destructive–Devastating''). The macroseismic map was established on the basis of damage reported by the region's 30 to 40 castles.D. Mayer-Rosa and B. Cadiot (1979). "A review of the 1356 Basel earthquake: basic data", ''Tectonophysics'', 53, pp. 325–333. From this macroseismic data, various studies have been conducted to estimate the moment magnitude of the earthquake, which have resulted in various values of 6.2 (BRGM 1998); 6.0 (GEO-TER 2002); 6.9 (SED 2004) with a follow-up report suggesting a range of between 6.7 and 7.1; 6.6 (GFZ 2006); and a major Swiss study by 21 European experts, with American involvement, in which four sub-groups estimated values of 6.9, 6.9, 6.5 to 6.9, and 6.5 ± 0.5 (PEGASOS 2002–2004). There are also different opinions about which faults were involved.

Damage

The earthquake destroyed the city of Basel, Switzerland, near the southern end of the Upper Rhine Graben, and caused much destruction in a vast region extending from Paris to Prague. Though major earthquakes are common at the seismically active edges of tectonic plates in Turkey, Greece, and Italy, intraplate earthquakes are rare events in Central Europe. According to the

Swiss Seismological Service The Swiss Seismological Service (german: Schweizerischer Erdbebendienst (SED), french: Service sismologique suisse, it, Servizio sismico svizzero, rm, Servizi da terratrembels svizzer) at ETH Zurich is the federal agency responsible for monito ...

, of more than 10,000 earthquakes in Switzerland over the past 800 years, only half a dozen of them have registered more than 6.0 on the Richter scale.

References

External links

Catholic Encyclopedia article
on the Diocese of Basel makes mentions the earthquake

Preparing a seismic hazard model for Switzerland: The view from PEGASOS Expert Group 3
{{DEFAULTSORT:1356 Basel Earthquake Basel earthquake, 1356 Reinach, Basel-Landschaft 1356 Basel Basel Earthquake, 1356 14th century in Switzerland 1356 Basel History of Basel