Reverberations on the watery element: A significant tsunamigenic historical earthquake offshore the Carolina coast
Seismological Research Letters
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Abstract
We investigate an early nineteenth-century earthquake that has
been previously cataloged but not previously investigated in
detail or recognized as a significant event. The earthquake
struck at approximately 4:30 a.m. LT on 8 January 1817 and
was widely felt throughout the southeastern and mid-Atlantic
United States. Around 11:00 a.m. the same day, an eyewitness
described a 12-inch tide that rose abruptly and agitated boats
on the Delaware River near Philadelphia. We show that the
timing of this tide is consistent with the predicted travel time
for a tsunami generated by an offshore earthquake 6–7 hours
earlier. By combining constraints provided by the shaking intensity
distribution and the tsunami observation, we conclude
that the 1817 earthquake had a magnitude of low- to mid-M 7
and a location 800–1000 km offshore of South Carolina. Our
results suggest that poorly understood offshore source zones
might represent a previously unrecognized hazard to the
southern and mid-Atlantic coast. Both observational and modeling
results indicate that potential tsunami hazard within
Delaware Bay merits consideration: the simple geometry of
the bay appears to catch and focus tsunami waves. Our preferred
location for the 1817 earthquake is along a diffuse
northeast-trending zone defined by instrumentally recorded
and historical earthquakes. The seismotectonic framework for
this region remains enigmatic.
Suggested Citation
Hough, S.E., Munsey, J., Ward, S.N., 2013, Reverberations on the watery element: A significant tsunamigenic historical earthquake offshore the Carolina coast: Seismological Research Letters, v. 84, no. 5, p. 891-898, https://doi.org/10.1785/0220120152.
ISSN: 1938-2057 (online)
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Reverberations on the watery element: A significant tsunamigenic historical earthquake offshore the Carolina coast |
| Series title | Seismological Research Letters |
| DOI | 10.1785/0220120152 |
| Volume | 84 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Publication Date | September 03, 2013 |
| Year Published | 2013 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Seismological Research Letters |
| Contributing office(s) | Earthquake Science Center |
| Description | 8 p. |
| Larger Work Type | Article |
| Larger Work Subtype | Journal Article |
| Larger Work Title | Seismological Research Letters |
| First page | 891 |
| Last page | 898 |
| Country | United States |
| State | South Carolina |
| Other Geospatial | South Carolina Coast |