But, if we confine ourselves to the accounts of careful persons alone,
the discrepancies to a large extent disappear. Indeed, all over the
ruinous area (Fig. 33) the shock maintained a nearly uniform
character. At Oneglia, for instance, there were two well-marked
phases, the first of which began with a brief subsultory movement,
followed by more horizontal undulations of longer period; a pause,
lasting but for an instant, was succeeded by vibrations which, though
not vertical, were highly inclined to the horizon; they continued
throughout the second phase, but, towards the end, new undulations
were superposed, and these, coming from different directions, resulted
in an apparently vorticose movement. Professor Mercalli represents the
motion diagrammatically by the curve _a_ in Fig. 35. At Diano Marina,
as will be seen from the curve _b_, the shock again consisted of two
phases, each beginning with a few subsultory vibrations and ending
with horizontal undulations of much longer period. In the first phase,
the undulations were marked by a dominant direction, but, towards the
close of the second phase, there was no determinate direction, and the
impression was again that of a vorticose shock. At Savona, the
movement, which is represented by the curve _c_, must have lasted from
twenty-five to thirty seconds. It also consisted of two phases, with
subsultory vibrations and undulations in the same order; and it was
noticed that the second part of the shock was much stronger than the
first. According to some observers, the concluding movements were
vorticose.
[Illustration: FIG. 35.--Nature of shock of Riviera earthquake.
(_Taramelli and Mercalli._)]
In the zone surrounding the ruinous area, the vertical component of
the motion was observed to diminish with the intensity; but, in other
respects as well as in duration, the shock retained the same general
form. At Genoa, Turin, Acqui, Alessandria, Antibes, and other places,
two distinct phases were perceived, occasionally separated by a brief
pause, the first being invariably the weaker. At some places, the
observers speak of two shocks at about 6.20 A.M., separated by an
interval of a few seconds; and this division was noticeable as far as
Salò on the shore of Lake Garda and Vicenza in Venetia. Only in
Switzerland and other districts near the boundary of the disturbed
area did the weaker part of the shock become insensible, the other
consisting of horizontal oscillations, remarkable for their slowness
and regularity, and lasting for as much as twenty or thirty seconds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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