The 1694 Irpinia–Basilicata earthquake occurred on 8 September. It caused widespread damage in the

Basilicata Basilicata (, ; ), also known by its ancient name Lucania (, , ), is an administrative region in Southern Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south. It has two coastlines: a 30-kilometr ...

and

Apulia Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...

regions of what was then the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples (; ; ), officially the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was established by the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302). Until ...

, resulting in more than 6,000 casualties. The earthquake occurred at 11:40

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

and lasted between 30 and 60 seconds.

Tectonic setting

The central and southern part of the

Apennines The Apennines or Apennine Mountains ( ; or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; or – a singular with plural meaning; )Latin ''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which would be segmented ''Apenn-inus'', often used with nouns s ...

has been characterised by

extensional tectonics Extensional tectonics is concerned with the structures formed by, and the Tectonics, tectonic processes associated with, the stretching of a planetary body's Crust (geology), crust or lithosphere. Deformation styles The types of structure and the ...

since the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided b ...

(i.e. about the last 5 million years), with most of the

active fault An active fault is a fault that is likely to become the source of another earthquake sometime in the future. Geologists commonly consider faults to be active if there has been movement observed or evidence of seismic activity during the last 10,0 ...

s being normal in type and NW-SE trending. The extension is due to the

back-arc basin A back-arc basin is a type of geologic Structural basin, basin, found at some convergent boundary, convergent plate boundaries. Presently all back-arc basins are submarine features associated with island arcs and subduction zones, with many found ...

in the

Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (, ; or ) , , , , is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenians, Tyrrhenian people identified with the Etruscans of Italy. Geography The sea is bounded by the islands of C ...

opening faster than the

continental collision In geology, continental collision is a phenomenon of plate tectonics that occurs at Convergent boundary, convergent boundaries. Continental collision is a variation on the fundamental process of subduction, whereby the subduction zone is destroy ...

of the African plate and the Eurasian plate.

Damage

There was serious damage to the area between

Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...

and Basilicata, with more than 30 municipalities being almost completely destroyed. These included

Bisaccia Bisaccia is an Italian town and comune, population 4,382, situated in the province of Avellino. It borders the communes of Andretta, Aquilonia, Calitri, Guardia Lombardi, Lacedonia, Scampitella and Vallata. Bisaccia has its own Bisaccese ...

. Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi, Bella and

Muro Lucano Muro Lucano (formerly Muro, until 1863) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the northern part of the region of Basilicata, southern Italy. History The city is situated on the site of the ancient Numistri, at the foot of the ...

Melfi Melfi ( Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Vulture area of the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. Geographically, it is midway between Naples and Bari. In 2015 it had a population of 17,768. Geography On a ...

, fifty buildings collapsed and the castle, cathedral, five monasteries and many churches were severely damaged. In

Potenza Potenza (, ; ; , Potentino dialect: ''Putenz'') is a ''comune'' in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata (former Lucania). Capital of the Province of Potenza and the Basilicata region, the city is the highest regional capital and one of ...

, several buildings, the church and the Trinità Tower collapsed. The following number of casualties were reported, 700 at

Calitri Calitri ( Irpino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, Campania, Italy. Overview Calitri is in Campania near the borders of the regions of Apulia and Basilicata. It is approximately above sea level so on even on the hottest ...

, 700 at Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi, 600 at Muro Lucano, 400 at Ruvo del Monte, 300 at

Teora Teora is a small town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, in the Campania region of southern Italy. Geography Teora is bordered by the towns of Caposele, Conza della Campania, Lioni and Morra De Sanctis. History The origin of the vi ...

, 280 at

Guardia Lombardi Guardia Lombardi (), known as ''La Uàrdia'' () in the Irpinian dialect, is a small town and ''comune'' in the Province of Avellino in Campania, Italy. At an elevation of , it is located in Irpinia in the Apennine Mountains of Southern Italy. It h ...

, 250 at

Bella Bella is a feminine given name. It is a diminutive form of names ending in -bella. ''Bella'' is related to the Italian, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese and Latin words for beautiful, and to the name Belle (given name), Belle, meaning ''beautiful'' in F ...

, 230 at Pescopagano, 190 at Cairano, 160 at

Atella Atella was an ancient Oscan city of Campania, located 20km directly north of Naples. Remains The ruins of the city walls, private houses, the so-called ''garden of Virgil'' and many tombs remain, on sites in the ''comuni'' of Frattaminore, ...

, 120 at Sant'Andrea di Conza and 100 at Tito.

Characteristics

The earthquake was preceded by a small

foreshock A foreshock is an earthquake that occurs before a larger seismic eventthe mainshockand is related to it in both time and space. The designation of an earthquake as ''foreshock'', ''mainshock'' or aftershock is only possible after the full sequenc ...

on the evening of 7 September. The mainshock was followed immediately by an aftershock, the first of a series that lasted until June of the following year. The earthquake occurred on a NW-SE trending normal fault. The area of damage for the 1694 earthquake is similar to that for the

1980 Irpinia earthquake The 1980 Irpinia earthquake () took place in Italy on 23 November 1980, with a moment magnitude of 6.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). It left at least 2,483 people dead, at least 7,700 injured, and 250,000 homeless. Eart ...

, but involved movement on a different fault.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1694 Irpinia-Basilicata Earthquake 1690s earthquakes 1694 disasters Irpinia-basilicata Earthquake, 1694 Earthquakes in Italy

Tectonic setting

Damage

Characteristics

See also

References