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a,b. a) Epicentral map of the earthquakes of central-eastern Sicily and Southern Calabria, data from the Italian Earthquake Parametric Catalogue (Working Group CPTI04, 2004); the circles are earthquake epicentres with magnitudes higher than 4.8. b) Distribution map of the seismogeological effects, classified in table I, retrieved from historical sources (table II).
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Strong earthquakes can trigger several phenomena inducing soil deformation, such as liquefaction, ground fracturing
and landslides, which can often cause more damage than the seismic shaking itself. A research performed
on numerous historical accounts reporting descriptions of seismogeological effects in central-eastern Sicily, allowed
the authors...
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Earthquake-induced liquefaction features have been found in Holocene and Late Wisconsin sediments exposed along three rivers in the Charlevoix seismic zone. On the basis of their stratigraphic position and radiocarbon age constraints, the liquefaction features are thought to have formed during three or more earthquake episodes centered in Charlevoi...
Shallow earthquakes cause serious damage near the trace of faults. The growth of major cities in hazard prone areas and the public anxiety associated with risks in critical facilities has focused attention to those areas. The Gulf of Corinth constitutes an area prone to high seismicity. During the last 2000 years several strong seismic events have...
Citations
... In comparison, the lowest magnitude earthquakes that triggered liquefaction in other parts of the world include the M S 4.3 / M W 4.83 earthquake in 1898 that triggered liquefaction along the Contrada Racineri, Italy (Pirrotta et al., 2007;Hu, 2022), the M S 4.5 / M W 1927 5.0 earthquake in Sekihara, Japan (Ambraseys, 1988;Hu, 2022), and the M l 4.61991 aftershock of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake in California, USA (Sims and Garvin, 1998). While liquefaction triggered by earthquakes with magnitudes less than 5 most likely occurred in extremely liquefiable soils (Green and Bommer, 2019), this implies that we have yet to find liquefaction accounts for earthquakes in the Philippines with magnitudes of less than M S 5.1. ...
Liquefaction is one of the earthquake-related hazards commonly experienced during earthquake occurrences in the Philippines. A database of liquefaction occurrences in the Philippines was developed through the analysis of historical documents, reports, catalogs, newspaper articles, and eyewitness interviews. A total of 808 liquefaction accounts were analyzed—798 of which were induced by 110 earthquakes that occurred from 1619 to 2020, with magnitudes ranging from M 5.1 to 8.3. The database also contains three undated liquefaction accounts from paleoseismic investigations, and seven liquefaction accounts related to four volcanic eruptions. The liquefaction occurrences in the accounts were analyzed in terms of their location quality, liquefaction features, probability ranking, and geomorphic units. We observed that liquefaction can occur repeatedly at the same sites that liquefied during past earthquakes and volcanic activities. This database may be used for seismic hazard studies and disaster risk reduction and mitigation purposes.
... The generation of liquefaction phenomena depends on the susceptibility of the sediments and on seismic parameters like earthquake magnitude and strong ground motion, which is strongly related to the distance from the epicenter or fault rupture and the local site conditions [87,88]. As described in the previous section, the majority of liquefaction sites triggered by the 6 February 2023 earthquakes in Turkey/Syria were detected within a certain distance from the fault rupture (25 km). ...
The 6 February 2023 earthquake doublet (Mw 7.7 and Mw 7.6) that occurred on the East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ) triggered a significant amount of soil liquefaction phenomena in SE Türkiye and NW Syria. The great areal extent of the affected area and the necessity of rapid response led to the adoption and improvement of a workflow for mapping liquefaction phenomena based on remote sensing data. Using satellite imagery, we identified 1850 sites with liquefaction manifestation and lateral spreading deformation. We acquired a thorough map of earthquake-triggered liquefaction based on visual mapping with optical satellite imagery (high and very high-resolution) and the aid of radar satellite imagery and interferometry. The majority of sites are found along meandering sections of river valleys, coastal plains, drained lakes, swamps, and lacustrine basins along the East Anatolian Fault, highlighting once again the influence of geomorphology/surficial geology on the distribution of liquefaction phenomena. A total of 95% of the liquefaction occurrences were mapped within 25 km from the surface trace of the fault, confirming the distance from fault rupture as a more effective tool for predicting the distribution of liquefaction than epicentral distance. Thus, taking into consideration the rapid documentation of these phenomena without the limitations in terms of time, cost, and accessibility of the field investigation techniques, this desktop-based approach can result in a rapid and comprehensive map of liquefaction from a strong earthquake, and can also be used as a future guide for subsequent field investigations for liquefaction hazard mapping.
... One of the most important issues in the study of seismic liquefaction is to investigate the maximum epicentral distance at which liquefaction can occur at a given magnitude of the earthquake [22]. Clarifying this issue is very helpful for engineers and urban planners to conduct the rapid disaster evaluation caused by seismic liquefaction and the mitigation of seismic risk [24]. ...
... To obtain relationships between the earthquake magnitude and the maximum epicentral distance of liquefaction sites (named an M-D relation), several empirical relations as shown in Table 1 have been proposed based on regional or worldwide liquefaction databases [2,7,8,14,17,[22][23][24]. Among them, however, few studies considered worldwide liquefaction data such as [2,22], and the most recent year in the databases is 2003. ...
... All historical cases in this study that are collected from literature [2,7,8,14,17,[22][23][24] need to be cleaned according to the following principles in this study, including screening inappropriate or abnormal data, and repairing missing data: ...
Liquefaction-induced damage usually occurs in the epicentral area of earthquakes. To detect the maximum distance such as maximum epicentral distance (Remax), maximum fault distance (Rfmax), or maximum hypocentral distance (Rhmax) to cause damage given the magnitude of an earthquake, this study constructs multiple empirical models approximating the limiting distances (Remax, Rfmax, or Rhmax) as a function of different magnitudes (Mw, or Ms) using Bayesian regression method to consider model parameter uncertainty based on an updated global liquefaction database. The updated database with 290 cases is compiled from different historical earthquakes from 1117 to 2020, and these data cover the moment magnitude (Mw) from 4.6 to 9.5 and the maximum Remax from approximately 1 km to 480 km, which greatly expands the existing databases. The proposed magnitude-distance empirical relations in this study that can be useful in evaluating the minimum energy of an earthquake-induced liquefaction disaster or the maximum distance of the liquefied site given an earthquake in the rapid disaster mapping are more robust than other existing models. In these proposed models, the bounding equation in terms of Rhmax and Mw performs the best. In addition, the deposited condition of the site is also tried to be considered in the Mw–Rhmax model, which improved the performance of the model to a certain extent.
... Initiatives to update and improve the pioneering studies previously mentioned were carried by several authors, e.g. Papathanassiou et al. (2005) [10] with reference to the Aegean territory, Pirrotta et al. (2007) [11] focusing on the Central-Eastern Sicily in Southern Italy, and Martino et al. (2014) [12] for the overall Italian territory. ...
... Initiatives to update and improve the pioneering studies previously mentioned were carried by several authors, e.g. Papathanassiou et al. (2005) [10] with reference to the Aegean territory, Pirrotta et al. (2007) [11] focusing on the Central-Eastern Sicily in Southern Italy, and Martino et al. (2014) [12] for the overall Italian territory. ...
This article presents empirical magnitude – maximum distance threshold
curves developed starting from the European interactive Catalogue of earthquake-
induced soil Liquefaction phenomena (ECLiq). Based on the latter, European
regressions were computed to predict the maximum distance of liquefaction
occurrence starting from the main seismological information of an earthquake.
The interactive catalogue ECLiq is a unique digital archive, which includes documented
historical information regarding earthquake-induced manifestations of
soil liquefaction occurred in Europe in the latest 1000 years or so. ECLiq is publicly
available as web-based Geographical Information System (GIS) platform at
the link http://ecliq.eucentre.it/. The catalogue includes both the main seismological
data of the earthquakes that triggered liquefaction in Europe and the features
of liquefaction manifestations. Based on ECLiq, new empirical European relationships
between earthquake magnitude and maximum distance for liquefaction
were developed and presented hereinafter. ECLiq was used to identify magnitude
– maximum threshold distance pairs above which liquefaction is unlikely to occur.
It is important to emphasize that since these models were developed based
on historical data of liquefaction occurrence, their use to predict the occurrence/
non occurrence of liquefaction at a given site and for a given magnitude
and location of an earthquake in Europe, must be linked to the actual ground
conditions of the site of interest and in particular of its susceptibility/non susceptibility
to liquefaction.
Estimating the location where soil liquefaction can possibly occur in the immediate
aftermath of a strong earthquake is valuable for rapid loss estimation, post
reconnaissance surveys and site investigations. The proposed equations can also
be adopted to estimate the magnitude of an earthquake in paleoseismic studies.
... Many researchers attempted to establish empirical relation between the earthquake magnitude and the epicentral distance at which liquefaction phenomenon is expected to affect a terrain at the regional scale as well as worldwide. These relations provide an estimate of the minimum energy of an earthquake capable of inducing liquefaction phenomenon [70]. The maximum epicentral distance at which liquefaction is reported acts as a threshold distance for the liquefaction to occur. ...
A host of great historical earthquakes from the Himalayas and Northeast India reportedly triggered liquefaction with the surface manifestation of sand boil, ground subsidence and lateral spreading in West Bengal and its capital city Kolkata located in the alluvium-rich Ganga-Brahmaputra river system, thus presenting a strong case towards systematic liquefaction potential analysis for this terrain using multivariate techniques based on a large Geophysical and Geotechnical data base. An integrated computational protocol has provided site classification of the terrain following standard nomenclature and its characterization in terms of absolute and generic spectral site amplification through equivalent linear/ non-linear geotechnical response spectral modelling as an intermediate step towards Liquefaction Potential and Risk assessment of the region. The large Geotechnical database is used for estimating Cyclic Stress Ratio (CSR) and Cyclic Resistance Ratio (CRR), which further delivered Factor of Safety (FOS), Liquefaction Potential Index (LPI), Probability of Liquefaction (PL), and Liquefaction Risk Index (IR) in the State and its capital Kolkata. The State including Kolkata have been classified into ‘Severe’, ‘High’, ‘Moderate’ and ‘Non-liquefiable’ zones based on LPI distribution while the liquefaction risk map classified the terrain into ‘Low (IR ≤20)’, ‘High (2030)’ Risk Zones. An intensely liquefiable stratum with FOS
... Folds and faults with similar liquefaction structures have been observed in different tectonic contexts and can be considered as a particular case of the seismoslumps (described by Montenat et al., 2007), in which brittle structures were formed. Similar structures also have been observed in recent fine-grained lacustrine sediments in Kashmir, where they have been interpreted as an effect of seismic shaking (Ali and Ali, 2018) and in the Catania plain, in close connection with large sand dikes (Pirrotta et al., 2007;Guarnieri et al., 2008). ...
... It is possible that a similar mechanism was also active during liquefaction recorded in our case study, in which the fine-grained silty sands forming the wedge exposed on the left side of the outcrop (Fig. 10B) were subjected to lateral spreading. We also consider that the same process may have contributed to the formation of contractional structures recorded in the Catania Plain (Pirrotta et al., 2007;Guarnieri et al., 2008). ...
Understanding the recent events marking the late Quaternary history of the Po Plain (N-Italy) is of overriding importance to decipher the record of depositional versus erosional phases, and their interplay with climatic, tectonic, and human forcing. We reconstructed the structural setting and chronostratigraphy of a Holocene succession crosscut by a thrust fault located south of Montodine (Cremona, Italy) within the Po Plain. The fault shows a maximum displacement up to one meter. Radiocarbon dating fixes a minimum age of 11.9 cal ka BP for the postglacial river entrenchment and constrains the fault movement age between 5.9 and 3.4 cal ka BP. Undeformed Late Medieval coarse gravels cover the faulted succession. Due to the outcrop position, lying above the buried frontal thrusts of the Southern Alps and North Apennines, we propose that faulting results from secondary surface effects induced by seismic shaking. We discuss two main mechanisms, both related to lateral spreading, that can result in the formation of reverse faults close to the surface. The Soncino area, recording one of the strongest historical earthquakes of the central Po Plain (1802), is considered as a possible source for seismic shaking. The results of this study are a contribution for the assessment of the potential seismic hazard in one of the most populated regions of Europe.
... The surface-wave magnitude (Ms) of the earthquakes ranges from 4.2 to 7.5. For the pre-instrumental period the magnitude was estimated from macroseismic intensity using the MCS (Mercalli-Cancani-Sieberg) scale with values ranging from 5.5 to 11. Continuing with Italy, Pirrotta et al. (2007) compiled a detailed dataset of liquefaction manifestations occurred in Central-Eastern Sicily (Italy) using a collection of original historical sources. Recently, the "Italian Catalogue of Earthquake-Induced Ground Failures" (CEDIT) was delivered by Fortunato et al. (2012) and Martino et al. (2014). ...
... Specific datasets were also considered for particular regions in Italy. Indeed, with reference to the Central-Eastern Sicily in Southern Italy, the database compiled by Pirrotta et al. (2007) was included in the catalogue. Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. ...
Soil liquefaction is a well-known ground instability phenomenon that may occur during earthquakes. This paper presents a novel catalogue of earthquake-induced manifestations of soil liquefaction occurred in Europe in the latest 1000 years or so. This unique digital archive, named “European interactive Catalogue of earthquake-induced soil Liquefaction phenomena” ECLiq, contains documented historical information regarding liquefaction-related phenomena (e.g. sand ejecta and boils, soil settlements and lateral spreading, ground and structural failures) triggered by seismic activity in continental Europe. It is publicly available as web-based GIS (Geographical Information System) platform at the link http://ecliq.eucentre.it/. Data and metadata were gathered within the time window 1117–2019 AD and include: the main seismological characteristics of the earthquake (e.g. UTC date, epicentre coordinates, magnitude, etc.), location of the site where liquefaction phenomena were documented, a description of the features of ground failure. The archive was built within the framework of LIQUEFACT, a 3.5-year research project funded under the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. LIQUEFACT is the largest research project on the assessment and mitigation of risks associated with earthquake-induced soil liquefaction ever funded by the European Commission. Indeed, data and information have been retrieved, collected, critically reviewed and harmonized to compile a composite, homogeneous, and well-documented catalogue of earthquake-induced liquefaction occurrences in Europe. ECLiq is built as an interactive digital archive fully accessible as WebGIS and, as such, it will be useful to a broad range of stakeholders and end-users. ECLiq may help decision makers in identifying urban areas susceptible to undergo liquefaction-induced damage. Furthermore, it may also encourage the scientific community to upgrade soil liquefaction risk models.
... Törések és képlékeny deformációk 5-nél kisebb magnitúdójú rengések során is keletkezhetnek. Az injekciós telérek kialakulásához üledékfolyósodás szükséges, ami 5-ös magnitúdó felett következik be (ATKINSON 1984, MCCALPIN 2009, OBERMEIER et al. 2005, PIRROTTA et al. 2007. PIRROTTA et al. (2007) 75 talajfolyósodással járó földrengés feldolgozása alapján úgy találták, hogy a jelenség 69%-a 6,6-os magnitúdónál vagy afölött alakult ki, 24% 5,6-6,5 között, és 7% 5,5 alatt. ...
... Az injekciós telérek kialakulásához üledékfolyósodás szükséges, ami 5-ös magnitúdó felett következik be (ATKINSON 1984, MCCALPIN 2009, OBERMEIER et al. 2005, PIRROTTA et al. 2007. PIRROTTA et al. (2007) 75 talajfolyósodással járó földrengés feldolgozása alapján úgy találták, hogy a jelenség 69%-a 6,6-os magnitúdónál vagy afölött alakult ki, 24% 5,6-6,5 között, és 7% 5,5 alatt. A vetőzónák felett meg jelenő dilatációs hasadékok is csak 5 magnitúdó feletti földrengé sekhez kötődnek, tehát a megfigyelt szeizmikus jelenségeket 5 magnitúdónál nagyobb energiájú földren gések eredményezték. ...
A Paks II atomerőművi beruházás földtani kutatási programja keretében mélyített Pa-21-I és -II kutatóárokban olyan szerkezeteket észleltünk felső pleisztocén futóhomokban, amelyek kialakulása szeizmikus eseményekhez köthető. A feltárt szeizmotektonikus jelenségek két csoportba sorolhatók: képlékeny (laza üledékes) deformációk és törések. A képlékeny deformációs szerkezetek aszimmetrikus ferde vagy átbuktatott redőkként, valamint vízkiszökéses szerkezetként jelennek meg egy-egy rétegkötegben. A törések csapásuk, meredekségük, belső szerkezetük és elhelyezkedésük alapján a Dunaszentgyörgy–Hartai-vetőzóna aktivitásához kapcsolódnak, igazolva a szeizmikus mérések értelmezését.A deformációk legalább 5-ös magnitúdójú földrengések eredményeként jöhettek létre. A földrengések késő pleisztocén – OSL mérések alapján ~20 ezer éves – rétegeket érintettek. A rétegsorban a dokumentált törések felharapózási szintjei és a képlékenyen deformált szintek alapján három szeizmikus esemény valószínűsíthető. A földrengés-visszatérési idő nagyságrendje ezerévesnek becsülhető. A törések közvetlen környezetében a homokrétegek néhány centiméteres, ritkábban deciméteres helyi deformációja figyelhető meg, illetve a törések mentén legfeljebb néhány cm-es dilatáció történhetett, de a törés két oldalán lévő homoktesteknek egymáshoz képest függőleges vagy vízszintes elvetése nem mutathatóki. Ennek oka lehet, hogy az alaphegységben és az idősebb kainozoos kőzetekben még egyértelmű elmozdulást okozó vetőzóna deformációja a felszínközeli laza, konszolidálatlan üledékekben eloszlik. A dokumentált hasadékok legtöbbje valószínűleg nem a vetőágak közvetlen, felszínig hatoló folytatása, hanem közvetetten, a földrengéshullámok hatására kialakult tágulásos hasadék, illetve benyomulásos telér.
... We analyzed and mapped coseismic effects caused by the mainshock and reported by historical accounts (such as landslides, liquefactions, secondary ground fracturing, and hydrological anomalies) ( Figure 5A), also considering previous paleoseismological studies that identified such effects in several sites of eastern Sicily (Nicoletti, 2005;Pirrotta et al., 2007;Guarnieri et al., 2009;Barbano et al., 2010;Pirrotta and Barbano 2011;Pirrotta et al., 2013). Additionally, we used the Environmental Seismic Intensity scale (ESI 2007), based on the earthquake-triggered effects in the natural environment (Michetti et al., 2007). ...
This study deals with the earthquakes which occurred in southeastern Sicily in 1693 (January 9 and 11, Mw ≈ 6.1 and 7.3, respectively). Although they have been largely studied, robust and commonly accepted seismic sources are still missing. We performed a revision of the 1693 macroseismic data and, for the fore and main-shocks, modeled new NNE-SSW trending seismic sources. In the Hyblean Plateau area, we carried out an analysis of DEM and aerial photos to map tectonic features. Then, we performed field surveys on the main faults, and a morphotectonic study with the aim of characterizing the activity of mapped faults. The study revealed the presence of three main fault systems. The first is the Palazzolo-Villasmundo Fault System, composed of NNE-SSW and NE-SW trending north-west-dipping normal faults. Some of these faults could be reactivated as reverse faults. The second is the Augusta-Floridia Fault System, made of NNW-SSE and NW-SE normal faults. The third is composed of faults which have never been mapped before: the Canicattini-Villasmundo Fault System that shows both a segmented and stepping pattern, almost N-S trending and west-dipping normal faults; some of these faults show a left-lateral movement. The morphotectonic study demonstrated that the fault systems are active. Furthermore, both strike and kinematics of the studied faults well match with the regional stress field characterized by a NW-SE σ1, which in the study area is probably both affecting some pre-existing faults, the Palazzolo-Villasmundo and the Augusta-Floridia Fault Systems, and causing the formation of new faults, the Canicattini-Villasmundo Fault System. The latter system lies across the Hyblean Plateau with a total length of 35 km and, due to its aligned segmented pattern, it can be the surface expression of a master fault that seems dividing the Hyblean Plateau in two blocks. Moreover, the Canicattini-Villasmundo Fault System well fits the southern part of the 1693 revaluated seismic sources and matches with a current alignment of shocks mainly characterized by left-lateral focal mechanisms on almost N-S fault planes. Considering the possible rupture length in depth, it could manage to release Mw ≈ 7.1 earthquakes, representing a valuable candidate source for the 1693 earthquakes.
... Although earthquakes are felt in very large areas, liquefaction can occur within 40 km from the epicenter for M = 5-6 earthquakes, where they can reach 100-120 km for those of M ≥ 7 depending on the ground effect (Obermeier, 1996;Rossetti, 1999;Rodriguez-Pascua et al., 2003;Pirrotta et al., 2007;Perucca et al., 2009). Nonetheless, 95% of seismites form within 0-25 km from an active fault (Galli and Ferreli, 1995;Rodriguez-Pascua et al., 2003Berra and Felletti, 2011). ...
The southern part of the Eastern Anatolian Plateau is a key region for understanding the tectonic activity and related deformation patterns of the Arabian–Eurasian collision zone. The geological record of seismic events collected from lacustrine deposits of Lake Van Basin is a critical requirement for seismic hazard assessment and seismic risk reduction. Our paleoseismic investigations revealed well-preserved seismites at five locations in late Pleistocene lacustrine deposits. The seismites were dated using an optically stimulated luminescence dating method and were arranged according to their ages. Their type, such as convolute, dish-and-pillar, flame, and ball-and-pillow structures, as well as their locations, ages, and stratigraphic distribution enable us to identify the responsible fault and the earthquake recurrence interval. On the basis of these properties, the Erciş Fault has been recognized as the structure responsible for creating the seismites. The time span between the seismites indicates an apparent earthquake recurrence interval of 125–250 years for large earthquakes (M ≥ 5) related to the Erciş Fault. The method applied here enriches our knowledge on the seismic hazards present in the northern Lake Van region.
