Destructive Intraplate Earthquakes in Arabia—The Archeoseismological Evidence

Abstract

The Arabian Plate is surrounded by seismically highly active margins, while the plate interior is seemingly aseismic. To add unknown events to the historical catalog, new archeoseismological studies of four intraplate sites are presented here. We surveyed buildings seeking evidence of seismic damage and/or following reconstructions, assigned destruction intensity values, and dated destruction events based on building stratigraphy and historical sources. Qalhat in northern Oman is a ruined Medieval city. It is > 300 km from the closest plate boundary of the Makran subduction. An earthquake caused I = VII damage in 1494, from which it recovered. The next event, causing I = XI damage, occurred between 1570 and 1592 AD, yielding destruction. Julfar city near Ras al-Khaimah (United Arab Emirates), > 100 km from the Zagros collision zone, suffered I = VIII damage in the late fifteenth century. Palmyra (Syria) is > 180 km from the Dead Sea Fault. A preliminary survey identified evidence for earthquake(s) causing I = VII and more severe damage. Umm al-Jimal in northern Jordan is > 70 km from the Dead Sea Fault. I = VII damage occurred in the city during late Byzantine times, between 550 and 650 AD, from which it recovered. However, following I = IX damage at the end of the Umayyad period, it was abandoned. It is suggested that systematic archeoseismological studies can provide evidence for destructive earthquakes in Arabia, for which written documentation was lost. Promising sites are along the coasts of the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian (Persian) Gulf, the Zagros foreland in Iraq and Syria, eastern Jordan, the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia, and much of Yemen.