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GIS e cartografia storica per lo studio di un grande terremoto del passato
No full textLa conoscenza della storia sismica di un’area è fondamentale per le valutazioni di pericolosità
sismica del territorio e per migliorare la comunicazione del rischio verso i cittadini.
Nel presente studio si sperimentata una modalità innovativa di comunicazione del rischio,
sfruttando come caso il grande terremoto che ha colpito l’Appennino romagnolo nel 1661 (Mw 6).
L’obiettivo è mettere a punto un sistema semplice e replicabile, di forte impatto comunicativo, per
sistematizzare le diverse tipologie di informazioni raccolte su questo evento, attraverso la creazione
di un HGIS (Historical Geographic Information System) basato sulla carta del Magini del 1620,
ritraente l’Appennino romagnolo e il territorio di dominio fiorentino
Seismic history of areas of moderate seismicity: the case of the Emilian plain and the Treviso area
Full text linkThis study is part of a research programme aimed at enhancing our understanding of seismic hazard through the analysis of moderate-energy historical earthquakes. The objective was to collect new information and review existing data on seismic events in two key areas: the Po Valley between Modena and Ferrara and the Veneto pre-Alps between Asolo and Treviso, to update hazard estimates and improve risk planning. Special attention was given to previously undocumented earthquakes and a critical analysis of historical sources, including archives, chronicles, and journalistic records. The methodology involved systematically collecting and selecting seismological and documentary sources, later interpreted in terms of macroseismic intensity. The BOXER code was used for parameterising seismological data, improving magnitude estimates and localisation. A total of 55 earthquakes were re-examined: 13 in the Modena-Ferrara plain, 23 in Asolo, and 19 in Treviso. The research also identified new, previously unrecorded seismic events, expanding regional seismic knowledge. These findings are crucial for updating seismic hazard maps and developing mitigation strategies in two highly vulnerable areas due to their population density and economic significance. The collected data refine hazard estimates and highlight the role of moderate-energy earthquakes, which, though not destructive, occur more frequently and can still cause damage. This study contributes to historical seismicity knowledge, providing essential data for local and regional prevention planning. The results serve as a new reference for future research and will enhance both the Catalogo Parametrico dei Terremoti Italiani (CPTI15) and the Database Macrosismico Italiano (DBMI15), which analyse seismic activity across Italy
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
In the wake of a big quake
No full textThe 18th-century European press network functioned in a non-linear way: newspapers tended to publish news from far-off countries rather than those of merely local interest. Thus, some Italian news may be only reported in non-Italian gazettes, or Italian gazettes omit to report some interesting details that reach instead – via the underground network of handwritten reports and diplomatic correspondence – some foreign gazettes. On the other hand, however, exaggerations or outright hoaxes are frequent both in Italian and non-Italian gazettes.
In order to understand how journalistic communication functioned and how the traces of some earthquakes were collected and preserved by seismological compilations, we examined the output of several Italian and European gazettes in the months after the great Lisbon earthquake of 1 November 1755.
During this period the European press network overflows with reports of the effects of the “big one” in Portugal and abroad, and also publish a spate of news of other earthquakes in Europe and the Mediterranean area. Some - the 9 December 1755 Valais earthquake, the 13 February 1756 Rhodos, and the 18 February Düren earthquakes - were real enough and quite strong too. Others were minor or - in some cases - even wholly fictitious events. Our survey discovers the traces of a few earthquakes still unknown to the current parametric catalogues and allows us to reevaluate an earthquake that turns out to represent the historical maximum for the city of Treviso (Veneto, Italy).UnpublishedBerlinOST1 Alla ricerca dei Motori Geodinamic
The harsh life of an earthquake in the region that doesn't exist
No full textBaratta's sources are respectively a summary of the Bologna Gazette published by De Rossi (1889) and a brief mention of Campobasso by Sarnelli (1716).
In the Postpischl (1985) catalogue, these pieces of information are summarized into an event dated generically to May 1712, located in Bojano, with an epicentral intensity of VIII MCS (Tab. 1).
Year Mo Da Ho Mi Lat Lon Int Ref Epic. Zone
POS85 1712 5 - - 41 30 14 30 VIII 75 BOIANO
CPTI15 1712 05 08 - - 41.561 14.660 6-7 AMGNDT995 Campobasso
Tab. 1 – The earthquake of May 1712 in the catalogues by Postpischl (1985) and Rovida et al. (2022)
In the early 1990s, in the frame of the “Hazard Project” - that led to the compilation of various versions of the parametric catalogue, along with the in-depth study of many hundreds of medium-high-energy earthquakes - approximately 250 earthquakes were swiftly reviewed through a simple verification of seismological compilations. These revisions were then synthesized a few years ago in the data sheets called AMGNDT995 [Macroseismic Archive GNDT, 1995].
The AMGNDT995 data sheet dedicated to the 1712 earthquake considers various information not clearly attributable to a single event and downgrades the earthquake, dated May 8th, locating it in Campobasso with an epicentral intensity uncertain between VI and VII MCS. The study suggests that the assertion that houses and churches were 'ruined' refers to a level of moderate, non-structural damage. This interpretation has been incorporated into the CPTI catalogue in its various versions.
Recently, in the frame of a research project aimed at improving the preliminary AMGNDT995 studies, the case of the 1712 earthquake has been reopened, following the report of the presence of the cult of San Michele in Ripalimosani, connected to the averted danger during an earthquake dated May 1712 [Mascia, 2000].
Along with this reference, attributed to an oral tradition, similar references have been identified respectively in Lucito and Monteodorisio. To verify this information and deepen the research, two avenues were pursued: the first, at the local level, aimed at verifying local historiography and archival evidence. Unfortunately, the research on this front has not progressed as it was hoped. The consultation of materials stored at the State Archive of Campobasso was unsuccessful. It was impossible to examine the documents preserved at the Provincial Library "P. Albino", that has been closed to the public for several years due to technical and structural problems (it is still unclear if and when it will be reopened). The Diocesan Historical Library "V. Fusco" was also consulted, with negative results. Luckily enough, however, additional journalistic sources ([Gazzetta di] Bologna, 1712.05.24; 1712.06.14; [Avvisi di] Napoli, 1712.05.14; 1712.05.17; Il Corriere Ordinario, 1712.06.08) were found, which significantly enriched the information framework (Tab. 2).
Overall, this is certainly a very interesting and complex situation regarding a certainly important earthquake that affected a very large area of central Italy (Fig. 1).
Year Mo Da Ho Mi Localities Lat Lon Is
1712 05 08 04 30 Campobasso 41.561 14.660 7
1712 05 08 04 30 Avellino 40.914 14.793 6
1712 05 08 04 30 Benevento 41.131 14.778 6
1712 05 08 04 30 Piedimonte Matese 41.354 14.371 6
1712 05 08 04 30 Alife 41.328 14.331 6
1712 05 08 04 30 Napoli 40.849 14.25 4-5
1712 05 08 04 30 Piedimonte San Germano 41.496 13.749 3
1712 05 08 04 30 Chieti 42.352 14.168
HF
1712 05 08 04 30 Lucito 41.731 14.688 HF?
1712 05 08 04 30 Monteodorisio 42.086 14.652 HF?
1712 05 08 04 30 Ripalimosani 41.613 14.666 HF?
Tab. 2 – Intensity observed for the earthquake of 8 May 1712
This case, certainly not unique, is exemplary of a very broad research space that would require a long-term work plan today. The current Italian parametric catalogue, despite being among the most advanced in the world, contains many hundreds of earthquakes with extremely poor basic data, which should be completely reassessed. At the same time, data losses, informational gaps, and misunderstandings are always possible and would deserve work from a long-term perspective, a condition that today appears entirely illusory.SubmittedUniversità di Ferrara - Polo Scientifico Tecnologico
Via Giuseppe Saragat, 1, 44122 Ferrara FEOST1 Alla ricerca dei Motori Geodinamic
The historical earthquakes of the earthquake-less island
No full textprobably confirm this opinion, with qualifica ons. Historical earthquake catalogues, up to CPTI11 [Rovida et al., 2011], report only one Mw 5.1 event on 13 November 1948: it was located in the Sardinian Sea, and had very modest effects on land. In later decades, the seismic networks did record very few earthquakes of moderate energy (Mw <5), mostly located off-shore, either south-east of Cagliari or west of Olbia or in the Sea of Sardinia. The most recent ones (occurred in 2000, 2004 and 2006) had very slight effects on the island. Given the low level of instrumental seismicity and the weak macroseismic effects of known historical earthquakes, Sardinia's seismic risk is perceived as very low. The low seismicity of the region certainly has a geological explana on, given that the Corsica-Sardinia block is among the most stable areas of the Mediterranean basin. “Low”, however, does not mean “non- existent”: recent historical research has improved knowledge on the major known historical earthquake of Sardinia (it occurred on June 4, 1616 and was responsible for minor but widespread damage to the system of coastal watchtowers, south-west of Cagliari) and rediscovered several minor earthquakes, part of which were known to the seismological tradi on but had been almost completely forgo en. This paper collects all the documenta on available at present on the seismic history of Sardinia.Published1-1604T. Sismicità dell'ItaliaJCR Journa
Early results of a systematic revision of Ferrarese seismicity of the 13th-15th centuries
No full textWithin the PRIN 2020 project NASHA4SHA [Fault segmentation and seismotectonics of active thrust systems: the Northern Apennines and Southern Alps laboratories for new Seismic Hazard Assessments in northern Italy] and in order to improve our general knowledge of the seismic record of the Ferrara area, we are proceeding to examine the ancient local narrative sources, not only to find information on “unknown” or “forgotten" earthquakes, but primarily to improve the understanding of earthquakes already known through a comprehensive study of the original texts which are relied on by the reference studies of the CPTI15 catalogue (Rovida et al., 2022).
Far from limiting ourselves to searching for “earthquake news” and taking them out of context, as we tended to do in the "heroic" days at the dawn of modern historical seismology, we attempted here a more ambitious undertaking. Our aim is to examine original earthquake news in their cultural framework, to check their intrinsic quality and "authoritativeness", and thus to improve the quality of general knowledge on historical earthquake observations. Using data extrapolated from narrative written sources (such as chronicles and annals) to compile earthquake catalogues sometimes risks isolating the data themselves and undermining their evaluation. Indeed, news taken out of the context that reports them, while useful in itself, remain impoverished, like archaeological findings whose site, location and circumstances of discovery are unknown.
Up to now our study has considered some dozen earthquakes with M ≥3.5, dated between 1234 and 1495, of which 11 are located by the CPTI15 catalogue (Rovida et al., 2022) in Ferrara, 3 in Modena, while a couple of cases are unknown to the CPTI15 catalogue. A couple of these earthquakes were never studied at all, in several cases epicentral parameters are derived from reference studies that are almost 20 years old, and in 5 cases even 40 years old. The informative basis for these earthquakes, as summarized in Locati et al. (2022) and Rovida et al. (2022) is rather poor. In many case information on a single locality is available from a single source, whose intrinsic value and reliability are also questionable.
The preliminary results of the revision work are generally an improvement of the intensity estimates. In a few cases, the studied earthquakes turned out to be doubtful or completely fakeUnpublishedFerraraOST1 Alla ricerca dei Motori Geodinamic
Wartime earthquakes in borderlands
No full textThe amount of traces that an earthquake may leave in historical records depends on many variables: its size, the relevance (political, economic, and cultural) of the area affected by it, the historical period in which it occurred, the space/time concomitance of other major geopolitical events that may overshadow the earthquake and hinder the production and circulation of information on its effects. If an earthquake is less than destructive and affects a marginal or border area, the likeliness that its memory will be quickly effaced is particularly high in wartime.
Such an earthquake occurred during the French phase of the Thirty Years' War (first half of the 17th century) in the Duchy of Savoy, an Alpine region and the main Italian theatre of war. It left only vague traces in a few seismological and historical compilations (Italian and European), none of the European parametric catalogues picked it up. The chance discovery of a short description of its effects in a diplomatic dispatch recently led us to undertake its study.
It was no easy feat, given the complexity of the socio-political context of the time, characterized by war events affecting all the territories where this earthquake could have been felt, but the effort was worthwhile because this earthquake currently turns out to be the most significant one in the seismic history of a major industrial city of northern Italy.UnpublishedBerlinOST1 Alla ricerca dei Motori Geodinamic
GIS and historical seismology: the case of the earthquake occurred in Italy in 1661
No full textIn historical seismology, a primary task is knowledge on the seismic history of the territory, in order not only
to evaluate the seismic hazard of a particular area, but also to improve risk communication towards citizens.
In the present paper, a new way of risk communication was tested, exploiting the case of the big earthquake
that hit the Northern Apennines (Emilia-Romagna region, Italy) in 1661 (Mw 6). A HGIS was created, based
on a map of 1620 by Giovanni Antonio Magini, to systematize many different kinds of information (e.g.
cultural and religious traces) collected for this event
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