Compatible and incompatible archaeological, historical and geological evidence for the large historical earthquakes on the Dinar Fault, western Turkey
by
Erhan Altunel
1. Osmangazi University, Engineering Faculty, Dept. of Geology, Eskisehir / Turkey
Coauthors: Aykut Barka (ITU, Eurasian Earth Science Institute, Ayazaga, Istanbul, Turkey), Serdar Akyüz (ITU, Mining Faculty, Dept. of Geology, Ayazaga, Istanbul, Turkey)

Archaeological remains and historical records in tectonically active regions provide a broad basis for the dating and locating historical earthquakes. However, problems arise in correlating particular geological/geomorphic phenomena with dated historical earthquakes because the same event can be described differently by different people, and thus entered in earthquake catalogues as two, or even more, events. In addition, a distant earthquake can also be entered in catalogues as the event occurred where it was felt. Thus, accounts of past earthquakes require careful verification and incorporate information from a widen variety of sources.

The ancient city of Apamea Kibotos (modern Dinar) was founded around the 8th century B.C. near the NW-SE-trending Dinar fault which reactivated during the 1 October 1995 earthquake (M=6.1). The 1995 earthquake resulted in about 10-km-long surface rupture with the south side down-thrown by about 50 cm. It seriously damaged the nearby town of Dinar and resulted in 96 deaths and hundreds of injuries. According to historical records and earthquake catalogues, Apamea Kibotos was damaged by earthquakes in 400 B.C., 88 B.C. and 53 A.D.. More recent earthquakes also damaged the modern town of Dinar in 1875, 1914, 1925 and 1971 but these earthquakes did not occur on the Dinar fault. Although historical records report that earthquakes destroyed the ancient city of Apamea Kibotos, it is not clear whether these events occurred on Dinar fault. Incorporation of archaeological information, historical records, palaeoseismological results and field evidence showed that some recorded historical events are compatible with field evidence but some are not. The Dinar fault reactivated at two different times before the 1995 earthquake; one was before the foundation of the ancient city of Apamea Kibotos and the second one was in 88 B.C.. Although earthquake catalogues for the Dinar area include the 400 B.C and 53 A.D. events, they were distant earthquakes but felt in Apamea Kibotos.

Date received: February 26, 2002

Copyright © 2002 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # caiq-17.