Euro-Mediterranean Tsunami Catalogue (EMTC)

version 2

Earthquake data from Soysal et al. (1981). Earthquake magnitude from Yolsal et al., (2007). Earthquake described by Guidoboni et al. (1994). Field evidence by Reinhardt et al. (2006). Tsunami along the coast between Caesarea and Yavne, Israel and the Libanese coast (Sbeinati et al., 2005; Yolsal et al., 2007).

Shalem (1956) suggested that the coast between Caesarea and Yavne was hit by a tsunami. Reinhardt et al. (2006) follow that and interpret underwater marine and geoarchaeological findings offshore Caesarea as reflecting a tsunami between 1st c. B.C. to 2nd c. A.D. (Salamon et al., 2011).

Nonetheless, there are severe reservations to be addressed in regard with this tsunami. Although the 115 12 13 morning AD earthquake was a notable one that happened while Trajan, the Roman Emperor, was visiting Antioch and many cities in northwestern Syria were badly damaged, including Antioch (Guidoboni et al., 1994, after Dio Casius), contemporary sources do not mention a tsunami (Salamon et al., 2011). Moreover, Karcz and Lom, (1987) suggests that the “Talmudic references are not specific neither in time nor location, but Yavne may have been affected.” The affected coast of Caesarea is far south of the 115 earthquake location, whereas most of the other tsunamis that followed earthquakes on the Dead Sea Transform system hit the shores opposite to the epicenters (Salamon et al., 2011). As for the findings in Caesarea, Galili et al. (2009) suggest an alternative and simpler interpretation that does not involve a tsunami.

Meghraoui et al. (2003) associate this event with a left lateral surface rupture of 4 - 4.5 m (MW=7.3 - 7.5) at the Missyaf segment, Syria, about a hundred km south of Antioch. Ambraseys and Jackson (1998): Ms=Large (Salamon et al., 2011).

According to Guidoboni et al. (1994) a landslide occurred in the mount Casius in the Antioch region. Further references: Fokaefs and Papadopoulos, (2007).

• 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.
• Galili E., Rosen B., and Zviely C., (2009). Ancient sounding-weights and navigation along the Mediterranean coast of Israel, IJNA. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095–9270.2008.00218.x  [link]
• Guidoboni, E., Comastri, A., and Traina, G., (1994), Catalogue of ancient earthquakes in the Mediterranean area up to the 10th century: Rome, Istituto Nazionale di Geofi sica, 504 p.
• Karcz I. and Lom P., (1987). Bibliographic reliability of catalogues of historic earthquakes in and around Israel. Jerusalem: Geological Survey of Israel.
• Meghraoui, M., Gomez, F., Sbeinati, R., Van der Woerd, J., Mouty, M., Darkal A. N., Radwan, Y., Layyous, I., Al Najjar H., Darawcheh R., Hijazi, F., Al-Ghazzi, R., Barazangi, M., (2003). Evidence for 830 years of seismic quiescence from palaeoseismology, archaeoseismology and historical seismicity along the Dead Sea fault in Syria, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 210, 1-2, pp. 35-52.
• Reinhardt, E.G., B.N. Goodman, J.I. Boyce, G. Lopez, P. van Hengstum, W.J. Rink, Y. Mart & A. Raban (2006). The tsunami of 13 December A.D. 115 and the destruction of Herod the Great’s harbor at Caesarea Maritima, Israel. Geology 34/12, 1061-1064.
• 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).
• Soysal H., Sipahioglu S., Kolcak D., and Altinok Y., (1981). Türkiye ve Cevresinin Tarihsel Deprem Katalogu (MO. 2100-MS. 1900), TUBITAK, Project No: TBAG 341, Istanbul, pp. 87. (in Turkish).
• 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]
• Ambraseys N., Jackson J., (1998). Faulting associated with historical and recent earthquakes in the Eastern Mediterranean, Geophys. J. Int., vol.133, pp.390 406.