Euro-Mediterranean Tsunami Catalogue (EMTC)

version 2

Earthquake data from Fokaefs and Papadopoulos (2007) and Sbeinati et al.(2005).

Summary in Salamon et al. (2007). An Ms ~6.6 earthquake in southern Lebanon and northern Israel (Ambraseys and Barazangi, 1989; Amiran et al., 1994) on 1759 10 30 03:45 Local Time. Ben-Menahem (1991) mentions a seiche in Sea of Galilee. Paleoseismic study by Daeron et al. (2005) relates the earthquake to the Rachaiya fault, and archaeoseismic investigation by Marco et al. (2005) suggests the surface rupture extended to the Jordan Gorge segment.

Tsunami at Acre and Tripoli from Fokaefs and Papadopoulos (2007), and Sbeinati et al. (2005), Yolsal et al. (2007); Altinok et al., (2011)

According to Salamon et al., (2011) who reports Ambraseys and Barazangi (1989): a seismic sea wave flooded Acre and the docks at Tripoli, but there was no apparent damage. The tsunami is also mentioned by Shalem (1956) and Ambraseys (1962), who locate the tsunami along the coasts of Israel and Lebanon and estimate the waves flooded the streets of Acre to a height of 8' (ft), and Amiran et al. (1994). This is the only case where the inundation height (height of the flooding water above sea level) is documented in historical sources.

Ambraseys and Barazangi (1989) describe a tsunami for each of the two earthquakes in this sequence (October 30th and November 25th), while Amiran et al. (1994) and Soloviev et al. (2000) determined a tsunami for this event only.

• Ambraseys, N. and Barazangi, M., (1989). The 1759 earthquake in the Bekaa Valley. Journ. Geophys. Res., 94: 4007-4013.
• Ambraseys N. N., (1962). Data for the investigation of the seismic sea-waves in the eastern Mediterranean. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 52, 895-913.
• Amiran D. H. K. E., Arieh, T. Turcotte, (1994). Earthquakes in Israel and adjacent areas: Macroseismic observations since 100 B. C. E., Isr. Explor. J., 44, 261–305.
• Ben-Menahem A., (1991). Four thousand years of seismicity along the Dead Sea Rift, J. Geophys. Res., 96(B12), 20195–20216. https://doi.org/10.1029/91JB01936  [link]
• Daëron, M., Y. Klinger, P. Tapponnier, A. Elias,E. Jacques and A.Sursock (2005). Sources of the large A.D. 1202 and 1759 Near East earthquakes, Geology 33, no. 7, 529–532. https://doi.org/10.1130/G21352.1  [link]
• Fokaefs, A. and Papadopoulos, G. A. (2007). Tsunami hazard in the Eastern Mediterranean: strong earthquakes and tsunamis in Cyprus and the Levantine Sea. Nat. Hazards, 40(3), 503-526.
• Marco, S., Rockwell, T.K., Heimann, A., Frieslander, U., Agnon, A., (2005), Late Holocene activity of the Dead Sea Transform revealed in 3D palaeoseismic trenches on the Jordan Gorge segment, Earth and Planetary Science Letters 234, pp.189– 205.
• Salamon A., Rockwell T., Ward S.N., Guidoboni E. and Comastri A., (2007). Tsunami Hazard Evaluation of the Eastern Mediterranean: Historical Analysis and Selected Modeling, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 97, 3, pp. 705-724. https://doi.org/10.1785/0120060147  [link]
• Sbeinati M.R., Darawcheh R. and Mouty M., (2005). The historical earthquakes of Syria: an analysis of large and moderate earthquakes from 1365 B.C. to 1900 A.D., Annals of Geophysics, 48, 3, pp. 347-435.
• Shalem, N., (1956). Seismic tidal waves (tsunamis) in the Eastern Mediterranean, Bull. Isr. Explor. Soc. 20, nos. 3–4, 159–170 (in Hebrew).
• Soloviev S.L., Solovieva O.N., Go C.N., Kim K.S and Shchetnikov N.A., (2000). Tsunamis in the Mediterranean Sea 2000 B.C. - 2000 A.D.. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
• Yolsal S., Taymaz T., Yalciner A.C., (2007). Understanding tsunamis, potential source regions and tsunami-prone mechanisms in the Eastern Mediterranean.In: Taymaz, T., Yilmaz, Y. Dilek, Y. (eds) The geodynamics of the Aegean and Anatolia. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 291, pp. 201–230.
• Salamon A., Thomas Rockwell T., Guidoboni E. and Comastri A., (2011). A critical evaluation of tsunami records reported for the Levant Coast from the second millennium bce to the present. Isr. J. Earth Sci.; 58: 327–354. https://doi.org/10.1560/IJES.58.2–3.327  [link]
• Altinok,Y., Alpar B., Özer, N. and Aykurt, H., (2011). Revision of the tsunami catalogue affecting Turkish coasts and surrounding regions, NHESS, 11, 2, 273-291.