Early Earthquakes of the Americas

This 2004 book investigates the relationship between historical earthquakes in the Americas and structural damage at archaeological sites.

Robert L. Kovach (Author)

9781107410497, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 4 October 2012

286 pages
24.4 x 17 x 1.5 cm, 0.46 kg

'Sleuthing out the occurrence of prehistoric earthquakes has a practical value. It provides data about the frequency and intensity of earthquakes along known faults, improving the understanding of the risks there. So it's an area of serious, important academic pursuit. But it's also way cool. And its especially cool when piecing together the prehistoric earthquakes of the Americas which, Robert Kovach points out, are often shrouded in the myth and mystery of the early people here … All of this and more is included in this interesting volume that digs deeply into the earthquake history of the Americas over the last five hundred years or so.' Dan Whipple, The Observer

This book was first published in 2004. There is emerging interest amongst researchers from various subject areas in understanding the interplay of earthquake and volcanic occurrences, archaeology and history. This discipline has become known as archeoseismology. Ancient earthquakes often leave their mark in the myths, legends, and literary accounts of ancient peoples, the stratigraphy of their historical sites, and the structural integrity of their constructions. Such information leads to a better understanding of the irregularities in the time-space patterns of earthquake and volcanic occurrences and whether they could have been a factor contributing to some of the enigmatic catastrophes in ancient times. This book focuses on the historical earthquakes of North and South America, and describes the effects those earthquakes have had with illustrated examples of recent structural damage at archaeological sites. It is written at a level that will appeal to students and researchers in the fields of earth science, archaeology, and history.

Preface
1. Introduction
2. Earthquake mosaic of the Americas
3. Myths and legends
4. Earthquake effects
5. Earthquakes of Mexico
6. Earthquakes in the Maya Empire
7. Earthquakes of Costa Rica, Panama and Columbia
8. Earthquakes of Peru and Chile
9. Early California earthquakes
10. Earthquakes of the northern American cordillera
11. Earthquakes of eastern and central North America
12. Conclusions and speculations
Appendix A. Data relating magnitude to extent of Modified Mercalli intensity of VII
Appendix B. Data relating magnitude to extent of Modified Mercalli intensity of > VI, Mexican earthquakes
Appendix C. Rossi–Forel seismic intensity scale
Glossary
Bibliographic summaries
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Volcanology & seismology [RBC], Environmental archaeology [HDP]