Owing to the limited size of the disturbed area, time-observations,
even had they been available, would not have sufficed to determine the
position of the epicentre, and both Dr. Johnston-Lavis and Professor
Mercalli therefore had recourse to Mallet's method, the former relying
chiefly, as before, on fissures in damaged buildings, and the latter
on the overthrow or displacement of columns and other objects.
Dr. Johnston-Lavis measured the azimuth of the wave-paths at
sixty-five places, and at about one-third of these was able to make
two or more observations. The azimuths converge towards the same
region as in 1881, but the area covered by their intersections is
larger. The meizoseismal band of maximum vertical destruction
indicated by shading in Fig. 16 is also of the same form and slightly
greater extent, reaching from the upper part of Lacco to a little
south of Frasso, and being therefore nearly a mile in length. The
centre of maximum impulse was in the same position as in 1881, or
possibly a little more to the south.
Professor Mercalli's observations were made at forty-eight places, and
in only six cases were they the same as those used by his predecessor.
He also notices that most of the azimuths converge towards
Casamenella, and intersect within an elongated area. This area runs in
the same direction as Dr. Johnston-Lavis's meizoseismal band, but is
less elongated, and situated a short distance farther to the south,
though on the whole the agreement between the two areas is remarkably
close.
There was again apparently a second epicentre at Fontana. In this
town, according to Dr. Johnston-Lavis, there were two distinct types
of damage. As in 1881, there was evidence of a vertical blow, the only
one that absolutely ruined houses; but, in addition, there was another
independent set of fissures, quite as widely distributed as the
others, though evidently caused by a less violent movement. These
indicated a wave-path with a low angle of emergence coming from
between north and north-north-west, or almost exactly in the line of
meizoseismal band. To the south of Fontana, however, there is a group
of places, including Panza, Serrara, Barano, etc., where the azimuths
diverged rather widely from the epicentre at Casamenella. These
azimuths are twelve in number, and it is worthy of notice that they
all intersected the crater of Epomeo, while half of them passed within
a few hundred yards of Fontana.
DEPTH OF THE SEISMIC FOCUS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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