Earthquakes in the Iberian Peninsula before 1900 in the seismic catalogs

Abstract

In this work we study the catalogs where earthquakes of the Iberian Peninsula before 1900 are contained. The catalog by Moreira de Mendonça (1758) published after the Lisbon earthquake stands out among those published before 1800 with 45 events in the peninsula. The global catalogs after 1800 give a larger number corresponding to those of larger size. The catalog by Mallet and Mallet (1858) with 110 earthquakes in the peninsula is that with a larger number. A list is given of the 21 earthquakes considered to be the most important and which appeared in several catalogues. The first regional catalog for the Peninsula is that of Perrey (1847) with 220 earthquakes. In regional catalogs the number of earthquakes increases; that by Navarro-Neumann (1921) has 260 and the one by Galvis (1932) has 1200. Modern catalogs have been developed from these ones which add the quantification of location (epicenter) and size (intensity and magnitude). The most complete catalog is that by Martínez-Solares and Mezcua (2002) that contains 2417 earthquakes before 1900. The development of the catalogs is important in the study of seismicity and seismic risk.