A Study of Recent Earthquakes

by Charles Davison

Fig. 64.—Geology of meizoseismal area of Hereford earthquake. (Davison.)[ToList]

But only a few miles to the south-east of the Woolhope anticlinal, and almost in the same line with it, there is a second anticlinal, that of May Hill. This is a triangular area, and is known to be bounded on all three sides by faults. The fault on the north-east side has an average north-west and south-east direction, and, if it were continued through the Old Red Sandstone towards the north-west, but bending at first a few degrees more to the west, it would pass through a point about 1½ miles west of Hereford. It is worthy of notice that both this fault and another nearly parallel to it, about half-a-mile farther north-east, stop, according to the Geological Survey map, at the points where they enter the Old Red Sandstone. The latter is an area which has never been investigated with thoroughness by modern stratigraphical methods, and in which it is difficult to trace faults. It therefore appears not improbable that the earthquakes were due to slips along a continuation of this fault.

Whether this be the case or not, however, it is clear that the earthquake-fault must pass between the anticlinal areas of Woolhope and May Hill, the former being on the north-east, and the latter on the south-west, side of the fault. At the Hereford focus, the fault must hade to the north-east; and, at the Ross focus, it is probable, from the distribution of places where damage occurred to buildings, that it hades to the south-west If this be the case, the fault must change in hade between the two foci.

How long a time had elapsed since the last sign of growth in the earthquake-fault took place, it is impossible to say; but it must be many years in length. During this interval, the stresses tending to produce movement along the fault-service had been gradually increasing, until they were sufficient to overcome the resistance opposed to them. It is worthy of notice that the earliest perceptible movements were slight. Their function seems to have been to prepare the way for the great slips by equalising the difference between stress and resistance over a large area of the fault-surface. We cannot trace with accuracy the transference of the seat of movement from one part of the fault-surface to another. The first slip seems to have taken place chiefly in the region between the two foci of the principal earthquake; possibly it overlapped both of them partly. The next three slips were apparently in the neighbourhood of the Ross focus, and were followed by a fifth in the same area as the first. Then came a series of small movements that we cannot locate further than by saying that they were more closely connected with the Ross focus than the other.

In consequence of the preliminary slips within and near the Ross focus, the effective stress in that portion of the fault was diminished; and this may be the reason why the first great slip took place at the Hereford focus. The immediate result of such a movement would naturally be an increase of stress in and beyond the terminal regions, and the next slip might have been expected in an area partly overlapping the Hereford focus, and either to the north-west or south-east of it. Instead of this, for a distance of two miles in the latter direction, there was not the least perceptible movement during the principal earthquake, and the second great slip occurred in the region beyond occupied by the Ross focus. This second slip, moreover, occurred within two or three seconds after the other; that is, before the earth-waves had time to travel from the Hereford to the Ross focus. In other words, the slip at the Ross focus was not a consequence of the slip at the Hereford focus; but both were due to a single generative effort.

Now, a section drawn parallel to the earthquake-fault and on the north-east side of it, would show an anticline near the Hereford focus and a corresponding syncline near the Ross focus, with an undisplaced portion in the intermediate region; while a parallel section on the other side of the fault would show a syncline near the Hereford focus, an anticline near the Ross focus, and again an undisplaced portion in the intermediate region. If further movements tending to accentuate such a structure were to occur (that is, if the anticlinals were to be made more anticlinal and the synclines more synclinal), there would therefore be two slips, one in each focus; while, along the fault-surface between, there would be practically no displacement. At any rate, the earlier stresses in that region may have been fully relieved by two slight preliminary slips (those causing the first and fifth minor earthquakes), and those resulting from the great displacements by the first after-slip which followed in about ten minutes.

Half-an-hour later, another slip took place at the Ross focus, and by this the equilibrium of the rock-masses was almost completely restored; for we have no certain evidence of any further movements until seven months have elapsed (July 19th, 1897), when there was a final slip in the same region of the fault.

THE INVERNESS EARTHQUAKE OF SEPTEMBER 18TH, 1901.

Between the north-east end of Loch Ness and the Moray Firth at Inverness, there lies a tract of land not more than seven miles in length, which is notable as one of those most frequently shaken by earthquakes in the British Islands. In the intensity of its shocks it is inferior to the south-east of Essex and the centre of Herefordshire, and, in mere number, to the celebrated village of Comrie in Perthshire. But, in the interest of its seismic phenomena, in the light which they cast on the development of the earth's crust, the neighbourhood of Inverness has no equal in Great Britain, and not many superiors in any part of the world.