Measurements were made at 55 places altogether, but in most cases they
were the results of isolated observations, not the means of several at
each place. On this account, I have not reproduced in Fig. 15 the
azimuths shown in Dr. Johnston-Lavis's map of the earthquake. A large
number of them clearly converge towards an area lying to the west of
Casamicciola; and, from their arrangement, Dr. Johnston-Lavis
concludes, though the evidence does not seem to me quite strong enough
for the purpose, that they emanated from a fracture running from a
little west of north to a little east of south.
This conclusion is, however, justified by other evidence. In the
centre of the injured district, Dr. Johnston-Lavis has traced a
meizoseismal band, in which the shock must have been nearly or quite
vertical. "The damage inflicted on buildings included within this band
was," he says, "very characteristic of the nature of the shock; the
walls having received but slight injury, whilst almost every floor and
ceiling had been totally destroyed. In fact," he adds, "many houses
would have required no other repairs than the replacing of the
divisions between the different storeys." The shaded central area in
Fig. 15 represents this band, passing in a nearly north and south
direction from a point midway between Campo and the upper part of
Lacco on the north, through the west part of Casamenella and Campo, to
a point near Frasso on the south; the length of the band being thus
about two-thirds of a mile.
If the central line of this band is produced towards the south, as
indicated by the dotted line, it grazes the west side of Fontana,
where, as we have seen, there was a second meizoseismal area, much
smaller than the other and surrounded by a district in which houses
were almost uninjured. That the shock in this town was vertical or
nearly so, is shown by the nature of the damage (p. 52) and also by
the testimony of the inhabitants. I will give Dr. Johnston-Lavis's
explanation of this detached meizoseismal area when discussing the
origin of the Ischian earthquakes; but the evidence seems to me to
favour either the existence of two distinct foci or, more probably
perhaps, the extension of the fissure to the south with an increased
impulse beneath the centre of Epomeo.
DEPTH OF THE SEISMIC FOCUS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account