U.S. Geological
Survey Professional Paper 1623
Online version 1.1
Catalog of Hawaiian Earthquakes, 1823 – 1959
By
Fred Klein and Thomas L. Wright
|
ABSTRACT We have prepared a catalog of more than 17,000 earthquakes located in the Hawaiian Islands, principally on the Island of Hawaii, from 1823 through the third quarter of 1959, ending at the beginning date for the modern computer-based earthquake catalog. We have estimated the magnitude of all earthquakes for which seismograms or published amplitudes exist, which is more than 80 percent of the earthquakes we cataloged. We have compiled instrumental amplitudes from the Honolulu Magnetic Observatory (1903–59) and the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) (1912–59) and combined these data with published felt reports for the entire time period, including newspaper accounts from 1856 to 1959 and unpublished felt reports sent to HVO from 1932 to 1941 and 1951 to 1958. We have devised means to assign location and magnitude for all events with at least a published distance from HVO, or those events that were widely felt. Locations for most of the small, and many large, earthquakes before 1950 are crude estimates because only one or a few stations with poor timing were used. We have expanded the determination of magnitude and intensity to levels lower than previously reported for this period in Hawaii—magnitudes about 5, intensities of greater than or equal to V. This catalog is designed to expand our ability to evaluate seismic hazard in Hawaii and also to greatly expand our knowledge of Hawaiian seismic rhythms as they relate to eruption cycles at Kilauea and Mauna Loa and to subcrustal earthquake patterns related to the tectonic evolution of the Hawaiian chain. This report attempts no interpretation but does provide a catalog of earthquake data heretofore unavailable in other than narrative accounts. We also evaluate the data sources and errors associated with them as a constraint on interpretations made from our catalog's listing of locations and magnitudes. |
Revision
History
(Owners of the printed version of the book should follow this link to obtain
an errata sheet and a replacement page 54)
Download this publication as a PDF document (3.4 MB)
Download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader
The catalog is broken into five time periods and the data are presented in a variety of formats (explained for each time period). All data files are available for downloading here.
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Data
for time period 1823 – 3/1903
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| No seismographs in operation. All magnitudes are based on either isoseismal intensities from isoseismal maps, or from maximum intensities. This portion of the catalog is probably finalized, but the sensitivity to just a few descriptions means new sources could alter the locations and magnitudes. | |||
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File
name
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File
Type
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Description
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File
Size
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| 1823-1903cat.exl |
MS
Excel
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Excel spreadsheet of earthquake data for time period 1823 - 1903 for Macintosh computers |
552
Kb
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| 1823-1903cat.ps |
PostScript
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Data for 1823 - 1903 time period formatted by Excel and written as PostScript file. Designed for visual use. |
1.5
MB
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| 1823-1903cat.xls |
MS
Excel
|
Excel spreadsheet of earthquake data for time period 1823 - 1903 for PC computers |
552
Kb
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| 1823-1901cat.csv |
Excel
text file
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ASCII, comma-delimited earthquake data for time period 1823 - 1903 with one earthquake per record |
372
Kb
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| 1823-1903cat.h72 |
ASCII
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Catalog files as ASCII, fixed-column data with one earthquake per record. Format is hypo71-2000 (a format used in the seismological community) |
132
Kb
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| 1823-1903cat.pdf |
Portable
Document Format
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Portable Document Format earthquake-catalog tables. These files consist of PDF versions of the same base-files and amplitude-readings Excel spreadsheets that are in the "pc" directory |
524
Kb
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Data
for time period 4/1903 – 2/1921
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| Magnitudes are mostly based on the Milne seismograph in Honolulu, and after 1912, also on the Bosch- Omori instrument at the Hawaii Volcano Observatory (HVO). We had the published summaries of earthquakes recorded at HVO, but did not have original readings or seismograms from the Bosch-Omori seismograph for any time period. | |||
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File
name
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File
Type
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Description
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File
Size
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| 1903-1921cat.exl |
MS
Excel
|
Excel spreadsheet of earthquake data for time period 1903 - 1921 for Macintosh computers |
1.1
MB
|
| 1903-1921cat.ps |
PostScript
|
Data for 1903 - 1921 time period formatted by Excel and written as PostScript file. Designed for visual use. |
2.2
MB
|
| 1903-1921cat.xls |
MS
Excel
|
Excel spreadsheet of earthquake data for time period 1903 - 1921 for PC computers |
1.2
MB
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| 1903-1921cat.csv |
Excel
text file
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ASCII, comma-delimited earthquake data for time period 1903 - 1921 with one earthquake per record |
436
Kb
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| 1903-1921cat.h72 |
ASCII
|
Catalog files as ASCII, fixed-column data for time period 1903 - 1921 with one earthquake per record. Format is hypo71-2000 (a format used in the seismological community) |
268
Kb
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| 1903-1921cat.pdf |
Portable
Document Format
|
Earthquake data for time period 1903 - 1921 as a PDF document |
<
1 MB
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Data
for time period 2/1921 – 1932
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| Magnitudes are mostly based on the Milne-Shaw seismographs in Honolulu and on the Bosch-Omori instrument at HVO. Microfilm records of Honolulu seismograms were mostly missing for this period and we relied on published readings where available. | |||
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File
name
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File
Type
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Description
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File
Size
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| 1921-1932cat.exl |
MS
Excel
|
Excel spreadsheet of earthquake data for time period 1921 - 1932 for Macintosh computers |
2.5
MB
|
| 1921-1932cat.ps |
PostScript
|
Data for 1921 - 1932 time period formatted by Excel and written as PostScript file. Designed for visual use. |
3.3
MB
|
| 1921-1932cat.xls |
MS
Excel
|
Excel spreadsheet of earthquake data for time period 1921 - 1932 for PC computers |
2.4
MB
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| 1921-1932cat.csv |
Excel
text file
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ASCII, comma-delimited earthquake data for time period 1921 - 1932 with one earthquake per record |
820
Kb
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| 1921-1932cat.h72 |
ASCII
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Catalog files as ASCII, fixed-column data for time period 1921 -1932 with one earthquake per record. Format is hypo71-2000 (a format used in the seismological community) |
784
Kb
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| 1921-1932cat.pdf |
Portable
Document Format
|
Earthquake data for time period 1921 - 1932 as a PDF document |
600
Kb
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Data
for time period 1933 – 9/1959
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|||
| Magnitudes are mostly based on the Milne-Shaw seismographs in Honolulu and on the Bosch-Omori instrument at HVO. We had microfilm records of Honolulu seismograms for most of this period and based magnitudes of larger earthquakes on readings from the records. This period has the most number of different possible magnitudes and thus the most number of columns (25) | |||
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File
name
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File
Type
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Description
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File
Size
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| 1933-1959cat.exl |
MS
Excel
|
Excel spreadsheet of earthquake data for time period 1933 - 1959 for Macintosh computers |
1.9
MB
|
| 1933-1959cat.ps |
PostScript
|
Data for 1933 - 1959 time period formatted by Excel and written as PostScript file. Designed for visual use. |
3.5
MB
|
| 1933-1959cat.xls |
MS
Excel
|
Excel spreadsheet of earthquake data for time period 1933 - 1959 for PC computers |
1.9
MB
|
| 1933-1959cat.csv |
Excel
text file
|
ASCII, comma-delimited earthquake data for time period 1933 - 1959 with one earthquake per record |
820
Kb
|
| 1933-1959cat.h72 |
ASCII
|
Catalog files as ASCII, fixed-column data for time period 1933 - 1959 with one earthquake per record. Format is hypo71-2000 (a format used in the seismological community) |
536
Kb
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| 1933-1959cat.pdf |
Portable
Document Format
|
Earthquake data for time period 1933 - 1959 as a PDF document |
980
Kb
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Data
for time period 10/1959 – 1963
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| The HVO seismic network and a Wood-Anderson seismograph were well established in this period. A catalog derived from an earthquake location program is the primary catalog and is not reproduced here. The Milne-Shaw seismographs in Honolulu continued to operate and we continued reading seismograms and computing magnitudes for the larger earthquakes during this period. | |||
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File
name
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File
Type
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Description
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File
Size
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| 1959-1963cat.exl |
MS
Excel
|
Excel spreadsheet of earthquake data for time period 1959 - 1963 for Macintosh computers |
40
Kb
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| 1959-1963cat.ps |
PostScript
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Data for 1823 - 1903 time period formatted by Excel and written as PostScript file. Designed for visual use. |
732
Kb
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|
MS
Excel
|
Excel spreadsheet of earthquake data for time period 1959 - 1963 for PC computers |
40
Kb
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| 1959-1963cat.csv |
Excel
text file
|
ASCII, comma-delimited earthquake data for time period 1959 - 1963 with one earthquake per record |
12
Kb
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| 1959-1963cat.h72 |
ASCII
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Catalog files for time period 1959 - 1963 as ASCII, fixed-column data with one earthquake per record. Format is hypo71-2000 (a format used in the seismological community) |
12
Kb
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| 1959-1963cat.pdf |
Portable
Document Format
|
Catalog files for time period 1959 - 1963 as a PDF document |
24
Kb
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Data
for All Magnitude 4.0 and larger earthquakes from 1823 - 1903 pre-instrumental
period
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File
name
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File
Type
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Description
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File
Size
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| appendixtable0.exl |
MS
Excel
|
Excel spreadsheet of earthquake data for time period 1823 - 1903 for Macintosh computers |
252
Kb
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| appendixtable0.ps |
PostScript
|
Data for 1823 - 1903 time period formatted by Excel and written as PostScript file. Designed for visual use. |
1.1
MB
|
| appendixtable0.xls |
MS
Excel
|
Excel spreadsheet of earthquake data for time period 1823 - 1903 for PC computers |
252
Kb
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| appendixtable0.csv |
Excel
text file
|
ASCII, comma-delimited earthquake data for time period 1823 - 1903 with one earthquake per record |
152
Kb
|
| appendixtable0.h72 |
ASCII
|
Catalog files for time period 1823 - 1903 as ASCII, fixed-column data with one earthquake per record. Format is hypo71-2000 (a format used in the seismological community) |
56
Kb
|
| appendixtable0.pdf |
Portable
Document Format
|
Catalog files for time period 1823 - 1903 as a PDF document |
168
Kb
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|
Data
for All Magnitude 4.0 and larger earthquakes from 1903 - 1959
|
|||
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File
name
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File
Type
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Description
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File
Size
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| appendixtable1.exl |
MS
Excel
|
Excel spreadsheet of earthquake data for time period 1903 - 1959 for Macintosh computers |
520
Kb
|
| appendixtable1.ps |
PostScript
|
Data for 1903 - 1959 time period formatted by Excel and written as PostScript file. Designed for visual use. |
1.5
MB
|
| appendixtable1.xls |
MS
Excel
|
Excel spreadsheet of earthquake data for time period 1903 - 1959 for PC computers |
520
Kb
|
| appendixtable1.csv |
Excel
text file
|
ASCII, comma-delimited earthquake data for time period 1903 - 1959 with one earthquake per record |
264
Kb
|
| appendixtable1.h72 |
ASCII
|
Catalog files for time period 1903 - 1959 as ASCII, fixed-column data with one earthquake per record. Format is hypo71-2000 (a format used in the seismological community) |
104
Kb
|
| appendixtable1.pdf |
Portable
Document Format
|
Earthquake data for time period 1903 - 1959 as a PDF document |
344
Kb
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|
Readings
for the Milne seismometer, time period 1903 - 1921
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File
name
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File
Type
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Description
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File
Size
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| honmilne.exl |
MS
Excel
|
Excel spreadsheet of earthquake data for time period 1903 - 1921 for Macintosh computers |
68
Kb
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| honmilne.ps |
PostScript
|
Data for 1903 - 1921 time period formatted by Excel and written as PostScript file. Designed for visual use. |
788
Kb
|
| honmilne.xls |
MS
Excel
|
Excel spreadsheet of earthquake data for time period 1903 - 1921 for PC computers |
68
Kb
|
| honmilne.csv |
Excel
text file
|
ASCII, comma-delimited earthquake data for time period 1903 - 1921 with one earthquake per record |
36
Kb
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| honmilne.pdf |
Portable
Document Format
|
Earthquake data for time period 1903 - 1921 with one earthquake per record as a PDF document |
56
Kb
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|
Readings
for the Milne-Shaw seismometer, time period 1921 - 1959
|
|||
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File
name
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File
Type
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Description
|
File
Size
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| honm-s.exl |
MS
Excel
|
Excel spreadsheet of earthquake data for time period 1921 - 1959 for Macintosh computers |
1.3
MB
|
| honm-s.ps |
PostScript
|
Data for 1921 - 1959 time period formatted by Excel and written as PostScript file. Designed for visual use. |
2
MB
|
| honm-s.xls |
MS
Excel
|
Excel spreadsheet of earthquake data for time period 1921 - 1959 for PC computers |
1.3
MB
|
| honm-s.csv |
Excel
text file
|
ASCII, comma-delimited earthquake data for time period 1921 - 1959 with one earthquake per record |
332
Kb
|
| honm-s.pdf |
Portable
Document Format
|
Earthquake data for time period 1921 - 1959 with one earthquake per record as a PDF document |
384
Kb
|
|
Readings
for the Milne-Shaw seismometer, time period 1959 - 1963
|
|||
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File
name
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File
Type
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Description
|
File
Size
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| hon59-63.exl |
MS
Excel
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Excel spreadsheet of earthquake data for time period 1959 - 1963 for Macintosh computers |
304
Kb
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| hon59-63.ps |
PostScript
|
Data for 1959 - 1963 time period formatted by Excel and written as PostScript file. Designed for visual use. |
848
Kb
|
| hon59-63.xls |
MS
Excel
|
Excel spreadsheet of earthquake data for time period 1959 - 1963 for PC computers |
304
Kb
|
| hon59-63.csv |
Excel
text file
|
ASCII, comma-delimited earthquake data for time period 1959 - 1963 with one earthquake per record |
44
Kb
|
| hon59-63.pdf |
Portable
Document Format
|
Earthquake data for time period 1959 - 1963 as a PDF document |
48
Kb
|
Download the FORTRAN source code for the program that reads the comma-delimited ASCII catalog files and writes the "h72" hypo71-2000 ASCII files with data abbreviated and assigned to fixed columns
There are four ASCII bibliographic files available for download for the historic and newspaper articles describing felt reports ("eqbibf.txt" and "eqbibi.txt") and HVO postcards of felt reports ("eqpcardf.txt" and "eqpcardi.txt"). The "f" files are in an annotated bibliographic format similar to journal article references. The "i" files have the same references but in a format where fields for each record are listed on separate lines. These can be imported using EndNote (6) bibliographic software. For further information on using EndNote with these data, contact Thomas Wright
| eqbibf.txt |
1.7
MB
|
| eqbibi.txt |
1.9
MB
|
| eqpcardf.txt |
160
Kb
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| eqpcardi.txt |
216
Kb
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For questions about the scientific content of this report, contact Fred Klein or Tom Wright
This report will also be available for purchase as a book (with an accompanying CD-ROM) by writing:
USGS Information
Services
Box 25286, Federal Center
Denver, CO 80225
telephone: 303-202-4210; e-mail: infoservices@usgs.gov
or calling
1- 888-ASK-USGS
(1-888-275-8747)
URL of this page:
https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/pp1623/
Maintained by: Michael Diggles
Created: August 21, 2000
Last modified: May 18, 2005 (mfd)