QatarTrench_Seismites


1	Location:	Qatar Trench, Jordan
2	Source:	Klinger et al (2015)
3	Summary of Seismic Events Detected - compiled by Jefferson Williams based on Klinger et al (2015)
4	Event	Mean Date	Age Range	Most Likely Quake(s) (Klinger)	Alternative Quakes (Klinger)	Most Likely Quake(s) (Williams)	Discussions Klinger et al (2015)
5	E1	1447 CE +/- 13	1434-1459 CE	1458 CE Nov. 16		1458 CE Nov. 16
6	E2	1212 CE +/- 57	1155-1269 CE	1212 CE May 1		1212 CE May 1
7	E3	1071 CE +/- 68	1003-1138 CE	1068 CE		1068 CE
8	Esupp1	925 CE +/- 119	806-1044 CE	1033 CE	850-854/870 CE		An earthquake, Esupp1, possibly occurred between E3 and E4. As discussed earlier, evidence is scare and visible unambiguously only in the eastern part of the trench. This event would have occurred between 806 C.E. and 1044 C.E. The age bracket excludes that it could be related to the 1068 C.E. earthquake series and no major earthquake is reported south of the Dead Sea basin during this period. Hence, these cracks could be related to shaking either associated to the earthquakes that affected the area of Tiberias in 850–854 C.E., or in 873 C.E. (Agnon 2014), or more probably to the earthquake of 1033 C.E. that severely affected the area north of the Dead Sea (Ambraseys 2009). This later earthquake, which was followed by numerous aftershocks, has caused severe destructions in several places in Palestine.
9	E4	758 CE +/- 87	671-845 CE	746/749 CE, 757 CE		Seismic Sequence which struck close in time to the 749 CE Sabbatical Year Quakes	Events E4 and E5 are more difficult to tie to specific earthquakes recorded in historical chronicles. The two earthquakes had to happen very close in time as cracks associated with each event end within a very short distance in our trench. The existence of the distinct unit D, however, prevents any ambiguity about the fact that two distinct events are recorded here. Based on our age distribution (Fig. 6), the time bracket that includes the two earthquakes is 671 C.E.–845 C.E. Historical descriptions during this period, although numerous, are rather confused, due to the fact that different calendars were in use at the same time with no possible univocal date conversion between the different systems. In addition, early historians had a tendency to aggregate descriptions of different earthquakes into single giant earthquakes. Ambraseys (2009) demonstrated that at least three large earthquakes struck the region south of the Lebanese range between 746 C.E. and 757 C.E. Although damages are reported for many of the main cities of the region, it remains difficult to ascertain epicentral location for each of them based only on macroseismic data. Paleoseismological and numismatic findings suggest that at least one large event, in 749 C.E., took place south of Lake Tiberias, along the Jordan valley (Marco et al. 2003; Ferry et al. 2011; Kagan et al. 2011; Wechsler et al. 2014). Evidence at our trench site and evidence for damage in the ancient city of Aila (Thomas et al. 2007) during the same time window suggest one large earthquake in the southern part of the Dead Sea fault, E4, which caused major ground disruption. This event was preceded slightly earlier by another event, E5, of smaller magnitude, or alternatively quite distant, which triggered cracks with minor deformation at our site. Hence, a possible scenario would be a first major earthquake, E5, corresponding to 749 C.E., which ruptured fault segments north of the Dead Sea and was recorded only by few cracks at our trench site. In the following years, rupturing in a sequence, another large earthquake (E4) would rupture this time the southern section of the fault, with major ground deformation. At this stage, however, we cannot exclude an alternative scenario where the first event E5 does not correspond to the Jordan Valley 749 C.E. event, but to an event located further south, in the Gulf of Aqaba, similarly to Mw 7.3 Nuweiba earthquake in 1995 (Klinger et al. 1999)
10	E5	758 CE +/- 87	671-845 CE	746/749 CE, 757 CE		Seismic Sequence which struck close in time to the 749 CE Sabbatical Year Quakes
11	E6	251 CE +/- 251	9 BCE - 492 CE	Incense Road Quake - 110-114 CE Southern Cyril Quake - 363 CE		Incense Road Quake - 110-114 CE Aila Quake - 1st half of 4th cent. CE Southern Cyril Quake - 363 CE Monaxius and Plinta Quake - 419 CE
12	E7	276 BCE +/- 63	338-213 BCE	Southern Dead Fish and Soldiers Quake - ~150 BCE		Fortress at Arad Quake ~250 BCE	Earthquakes E7–E9 are difficult to correlate with historically documented events. However, E7 and the sequence E8–E9 can be tentatively correlated to two successive down-faulting events along the northwestern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, which have buried alive a coral-reef platform (Shaked et al. 2011). These two events have been dated using14 C and U-series on coral and yield ages of ∼2.4 ka BP and ∼4.7 ka BP, respectively, in agreement with the two seismic periods identified in the lower part of the trench (E7 and E8+E9). In addition, the date interval for event E7 is also compatible with a seismite layer dated about mid-2nd century B.C.E. that was consistently documented all around the Dead Sea basin, and was associated to a large magnitude event which would have affected the northern part of the Dead Sea fault (Kagan et al. 2011). The oldest sequence (E8+E9) could be related to some destruction reported in archeological sites north of the Dead Sea, along the Jordan valley, which were associated with seismic activity and dated between 1100 B.C.E. and 2600 B.C.E. (Ferry et al. 2011). The timing of this last sequence is also in good agreement with the occurrence of significant rock falls along the western shoulder of the Wadi Araba, dated to be 4.3 ± 1.0 ka old, and which are associated to earthquake shaking (Matmon et al. 2005; Rinat et al. 2014). Hence, although these correlations are only qualitative at this point, they substantiate the assumption that the Dead Sea fault might be rupturing during seismic crises when several large earthquakes break different sections of the fault over a short period of a few centuries, separated by more quiet periods.
13	E8	2021 BCE +/- 776	2797-1245 BCE
14	E9	2021 BCE +/- 776	2797-1245 BCE
15	Esupp2	2021 BCE +/- 776	2797-1245 BCE