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Malalas Confusion Quake

130 BCE or 148 BCE

by Jefferson Williams








Introduction & Summary

Malalas Confusion Quake Summary

Textual Evidence

Text (with hotlink) Original Language Religion Date of Composition Location Composed Notes
Chronographia by Johannes Malalas Greek Christian (Orthodox Byzantium) ~530s to 565 CE Antioch
Text (with hotlink) Original Language Religion Date of Composition Location Composed Notes
Chronographia by Johannes Malalas

Archaeoseismic Evidence

Location (with hotlink) Status Intensity Notes
Tel Ateret aka Vadun Jacob possible ≥9 Ellenblum et. al. (2015:5) estimated a displacement of ~2.5 m from this event which, though dated from the 3rd century BCE - ~142 BCE, probably struck around ~142 BCE. Using the scaling laws of Wells and Coppersmith (1994), ~2.5 m of strike-slip displacement corresponds to a magnitude of 7.1 - 7.4.
Tell Anafa possible Hellenistic Earthquake inferred from possible rebuilding - Although Herbert in Stern et al (1993) did not report any evidence for seismic destruction in Hellenistic times, they did date construction of a Late Hellenistic stuccoed building around ~125 BCE noting that a coin of Alexander Zebina (128-125 BCE) found in the construction fill of the bath's southern room is the latest find under any of the building's original floors. Herbert in Stern et al (1993) also reports that a massive leveling and terracing operation took place with the construction of the Late Hellenistic stuccoed building, obliterating earlier architectural remains. This could explain an absence of archaeoseismic evidence.
Location (with hotlink) Status Intensity Notes
Tel Ateret aka Vadun Jacob



Tell Anafa



Tsunamogenic Evidence

Paleoseismic Evidence

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Location (with hotlink) Status Intensity Notes
Dinar Trenches possible - indeterminate ≥ 7 Altunel et al (1999) claim evidence for a ~80 BCE Apamea Earthquake in Event 2 from their trenches but only two useful radiocarbon dates were obtained in their paleoseismic study. The date constraints from these two samples are large (~1550 BCE - 1360 ± 50 CE) and their historical earthquake assignment is speculative - based on consulting earthquake catalogs during that time span.
Hacipasa Trenches possible ≥ 7 The oldest event identified in the Ziyaret Trench dated to before 983 CE. A lower bound on age was not available due to insufficient radiocarbon dates.
Tekieh Trenches possible ≥ 7 Gomez et. al. (2003:15) may have seen evidence for an earthquake in the 1st or 2nd century BCE in Event B. Event B is estimated to have created ~ 2 meters of left lateral strike slip displacement which translates to an estimated Magnitude between 7.0 and 7.3 (7.0 and 7.2 according to Gomez et al, 2003:16-17). In terms of dating, an upper bound for Event B is 170 BCE - 20 CE while a lower bound for Events B and and the older Event C is from 1690 - 1400 BCE.
Jarmaq Trench possible ≥ 7 Nemer and Meghraoui (2006) date Event Y to between 2920-2879 BCE and 84-239 CE
Qiryat-Shemona Rockfalls possible Kanari, M. (2008) examined rockfalls in Qiryat-Shemona which were attributed to earthquakes. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating was performed on soil samples beneath the fallen rocks. Kanari et al (2019) assigned Sample ID QS-6 to an earthquake in 199 BCE but the wide spread in ages indicate that this event could have occurred in the 2nd century BCE.
Bet Zayda possible ≥ 7 Wechsler at al. (2014) records event CH4-E6 with a modeled age of 392 BCE – 91 CE.
Jordan Valley - Dir Hagla Trenches possible ≥ 7 Reches and Hoexter (1981) report that Event A was dated from 200 BCE - 200 CE and exhibited 3.5 m of vertical displacement. Although the total vertical displacement could have been created by more than one seismic event, there were no broken layers between Event A the next Event (B) which was dated to between 700 and 900 CE. Further, they interpreted Event A created a fault scarp on the site. Kagan, E., et al. (2011) noted that the dip slip could have been magnified by local variations in the strike of the fault.
Dead Sea - Seismite Types n/a n/a A worst case scenario calculation reveals why it is unlikely that an earthquake in Antioch would produce seismites in the Dead Sea.
  1. Assume a maximal Magnitude estimate - MW = 7.5
  2. Locate the epicenter in Antioch
  3. Calculate Epicentral Distances (R) from Antioch: ~500 km. to En Feshka (the closest site) and ~545 km. Nahal Ze ‘elim (the furthest site)
  4. Use the attenuation relationship from Hough and Avni (2009) to estimate peak horizontal ground acceleration (PGA) at En Feshka and Nahal Ze ‘elim

The result is a PGA of 0.07 g at Nahal Ze'elim and 0.08g at En Feshka. This is below the 0.23 g threshold calculated by Williams (2004) or 0.13 g assumed in Lu et al (2020a) that one needs to break the Dead Sea sediments. That said, there is evidence that a mid second century BCE earthquake struck the Dead Sea and the Araba, creating some thick seismites in the process. This suggests that we may be dealing with an earthquake couplet where an earthquake in the northern part of the Dead Sea transform struck within a short amount of time (1-2 decades or less) before or after an earthquake in the southern part of the Dead Sea Transform.

Calculator
Seismic Attenuation

Variable Input Units Notes
Magnitude
km. Distance to earthquake producing fault
Variable Output - Site Effect not considered Units Notes
unitless
unitless Conversion from PGA to Intensity using Wald et al (1999)
  

Dead Sea - Nahal Darga ppossible ≥ 7 Enzel et. al. (2000) identified a 20 cm. thick seismite in coarse grained lithology in Deformed Unit 8 in Stratigraphic Unit 10 which dated to 450-50 BCE (2400-2000 yrs BP).
Dead Sea - En Feshkapossible 7.9 - 8.8 Kagan et al (2011) identified two seismites which they estimate struck in the 2nd century BCE.
Depth (cm.) Thickness (cm.) Seismite Type Modeled Age (± 1σ) Modeled Age (± 2σ) Quake Assignment (Kagan) Quake Assignment (Williams)
393 l 4 121 BCE ± 25 119 BCE ± 58 mid 2nd century BCE possibly ~150 BCE southern Dead Fish and Soldiers Quake
402 l.5 4 151 BCE ± 21 150 BCE ± 55 mid 2nd century BCE possibly ~150 BCE southern Dead Fish and Soldiers Quake
Dead Sea - En Gedi possible 7.9 - 8.8 Migowski et. al. (2004) dated a 1 cm. thick Type 4 seismite at a depth of 302.48 cm. (3.0248 m) to 140 BCE.
Dead Sea - Nahal Ze 'elim possible 8.2 - 8.9 At site ZA-2, Kagan et al (2011) observed a 8 cm. thick Type 4 intraclast breccia seismite at a depth of 516 cm. with modeled ages of 103 BCE ± 37 (1σ) and 103 BCE ± 75 (2σ). They suggested it struck in the middle of the 2nd century BCE. It may have formed during the southern Dead Fish and Soldiers Quake.
Araba - Introduction n/a n/a n/a
Araba - Taybeh Trench possible ≥ 7 LeFevre et al. (2018) reports a modeled age for Event E6 of 139 BCE ± 22.
Araba - Qatar Trench unlikely ≥ 7 Klinger et. al. (2015) did not observe any mid 2nd century BCE seismic events.
Location (with hotlink) Status Intensity Notes
Dinar Trenches



Altunel et al (1999) claim evidence for a ~80 BCE Apamea Earthquake in Event 2 from their trenches but only two useful radiocarbon dates were obtained in their paleoseismic study. The date constraints from these two samples are large (~1550 BCE - 1360 ± 50 CE) and their historical earthquake assignment is speculative - based on consulting earthquake catalogs during that time span.



Hacipasa Trenches

The oldest event identified in the Ziyaret Trench dated to before 983 CE. A lower bound on age was not available due to insufficient radiocarbon dates.



Tekieh Trenches

Gomez et. al. (2003:15) may have seen evidence for an earthquake in the 1st or 2nd century BCE in Event B. Event B is estimated to have created ~ 2 meters of left lateral strike slip displacement which translates to an estimated Magnitude between 7.0 and 7.3 (7.0 and 7.2 according to Gomez et al, 2003:16-17). In terms of dating, an upper bound for Event B is 170 BCE - 20 CE while a lower bound for Events B and and the older Event C is from 1690 - 1400 BCE.



Jarmaq Trench

Nemer and Meghraoui (2006) date Event Y to between 2920-2879 BCE and 84-239 CE



Qiryat-Shemona Rockfalls

Kanari, M. (2008) examined rockfalls in Qiryat-Shemona which were attributed to earthquakes. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating was performed on soil samples beneath the fallen rocks. Kanari et al (2019) assigned Sample ID QS-6 to an earthquake in 199 BCE but the wide spread in ages indicate that this event could have occurred in the 2nd century BCE.



Bet Zayda (aka Beteiha)

Wechsler at al. (2014) records event CH4-E6 with a modeled age of 392 BCE – 91 CE.



Jordan Valley - Dir Hagla Trenches

Reches and Hoexter (1981) report that Event A was dated from 200 BCE - 200 CE and exhibited 3.5 m of vertical displacement. Although the total vertical displacement could have been created by more than one seismic event, there were no broken layers between Event A the next Event (B) which was dated to between 700 and 900 CE. Further, they interpreted Event A created a fault scarp on the site. Kagan, E., et al. (2011) noted that the dip slip could have been magnified by local variations in the strike of the fault.



Dead Sea - Seismite Types



Dead Sea - Nahal Darga

Enzel et. al. (2000) identified a 20 cm. thick seismite in coarse grained lithology in Deformed Unit 8 in Stratigraphic Unit 10 which dated to 450-50 BCE (2400-2000 yrs BP).



Dead Sea - En Feshka

Kagan et al (2011) identified two seismites which they estimate struck in the 2nd century BCE.

Depth (cm.) Thickness (cm.) Seismite Type Modeled Age (± 1σ) Modeled Age (± 2σ) Quake Assignment (Kagan) Quake Assignment (Williams)
393 l 4 121 BCE ± 25 119 BCE ± 58 mid 2nd century BCE possibly ~150 BCE southern Dead Fish and Soldiers Quake
402 l.5 4 151 BCE ± 21 150 BCE ± 55 mid 2nd century BCE possibly ~150 BCE southern Dead Fish and Soldiers Quake


Dead Sea - En Gedi

Migowski et. al. (2004) dated a 1 cm. thick Type 4 seismite at a depth of 302.48 cm. (3.0248 m) to 140 BCE.



Dead Sea - Nahal Ze 'elim

At site ZA-2, Kagan et al (2011) observed a 8 cm. thick Type 4 intraclast breccia seismite at a depth of 516 cm. with modeled ages of 103 BCE ± 37 (1σ) and 103 BCE ± 75 (2σ). They suggested it struck in the middle of the 2nd century BCE. It may have formed during the southern Dead Fish and Soldiers Quake.



Araba - Introduction



Araba - Taybeh Trench

LeFevre et al. (2018) reports a modeled age for Event E6 of 139 BCE ± 22.



Araba - Qatar Trench

Klinger et. al. (2015) did not observe any mid 2nd century BCE seismic events.



Notes

Paleoclimate - Droughts

References