11:15 AM - 11:30 AM
[SSS10-09] The Oldest Report of a Tsunami in Mexico in 1537 Based on Japanese Literature Is Erroneous
Keywords:1537 Mexico earthquake, false tsunami, miscopy, ”Chronological Scientific Tables”, 1531 Spain–Portugal earthquake tsunami
The dates and the magnitudes of the oldest phenomena in a certain area play important roles in estimating long-term seismicity in that area. However, in earthquake and tsunami catalogs, the older the historical records, the more difficult it is to ensure the reliability of the corresponding report. For example, widely used earthquake and/or tsunami catalogs in Japan (e.g. Usami et al., 2013) listed the 1586 Peruvian earthquake as the oldest tele-tsunami record in Japan; however, this tsunami turned out to be incorrectly linked to a certain oral tsunami record in Japan (Hayashi et al., 2018; Satake et al., 2020).
According to the world historical tsunami database (NCEI, 2017) and the Mexican tsunami catalog (Sánchez and Farreras, 1993), the oldest historical tsunami record in Central America is the earthquake tsunami that occurred in Mexico in 1537; however, this record is flagged as doubtful one because this tsunami is reported by no authority outside Japan. I examined earthquake and tsunami catalogs and found the source of this suspicious data.
Imamura (1925) compiled the first part of the chronological table of major earthquakes in the world from Milne's (1912) earthquake catalog of the world. During this compilation, information on the tsunami caused by the 1531 Spain–Portugal earthquake was not copied. The chronological table was published almost annually until 1962, during which time the table was revised by Kawasumi (1958), who was the author in charge at the time. The remarks for the 1531 Spain–Portugal earthquake tsunami should have been added to that entry during the revision, but the text “tsunami existence” was erroneously added to the next entry for the 1537 Mexico earthquake. The source of the 1537 tsunami report turned out to be this miscopy.
References:
Hayashi et al. (2018): Negative effects of erroneous records of Japanese tsunami caused by the 1586 earthquake off the coast of Peru being included in the Technical Reports of the Japan Meteorological Agency. Quart. J. Seis., 81, 9:1-7. (in Japanese with English Abstract).
Imamura (1925): Sekai Dai-jishin Nendai-hyo Zen-hen. in Chronological Scientific Tables, 2, 312–313 and 331–344. (in Japanese)
Kawasumi (1958): Sekai Dai-jishin Nendai-hyo Zen-hen. in Chronological Scientific Tables, 32, Chi143–Chi149. (in Japanese)
Milne (1912): A catalogue of destructive earthquakes, A.D. 7 to A.D. 1899.
NCEI (2017): NGDC/WDS Global Historical Tsunami Database. DOI: 10.7289/ V5PN93H7
Sánchez and Farreras (1993): Catalog of Tsunamis on the Western Coast of Mexico. World Data Center A for Solid Earth Geophysics Publication, SE-50. (in Spanish and English)
Satake et al. (2020): History and features of trans-oceanic tsunamis and implications for paleotsunami studies. Earth-Sci. Rev., 202, 103112.
Usami et al. (2013): Nihon Higai Jishin Soran 599–2012, ISBN 4130607596. (in Japanese)
According to the world historical tsunami database (NCEI, 2017) and the Mexican tsunami catalog (Sánchez and Farreras, 1993), the oldest historical tsunami record in Central America is the earthquake tsunami that occurred in Mexico in 1537; however, this record is flagged as doubtful one because this tsunami is reported by no authority outside Japan. I examined earthquake and tsunami catalogs and found the source of this suspicious data.
Imamura (1925) compiled the first part of the chronological table of major earthquakes in the world from Milne's (1912) earthquake catalog of the world. During this compilation, information on the tsunami caused by the 1531 Spain–Portugal earthquake was not copied. The chronological table was published almost annually until 1962, during which time the table was revised by Kawasumi (1958), who was the author in charge at the time. The remarks for the 1531 Spain–Portugal earthquake tsunami should have been added to that entry during the revision, but the text “tsunami existence” was erroneously added to the next entry for the 1537 Mexico earthquake. The source of the 1537 tsunami report turned out to be this miscopy.
References:
Hayashi et al. (2018): Negative effects of erroneous records of Japanese tsunami caused by the 1586 earthquake off the coast of Peru being included in the Technical Reports of the Japan Meteorological Agency. Quart. J. Seis., 81, 9:1-7. (in Japanese with English Abstract).
Imamura (1925): Sekai Dai-jishin Nendai-hyo Zen-hen. in Chronological Scientific Tables, 2, 312–313 and 331–344. (in Japanese)
Kawasumi (1958): Sekai Dai-jishin Nendai-hyo Zen-hen. in Chronological Scientific Tables, 32, Chi143–Chi149. (in Japanese)
Milne (1912): A catalogue of destructive earthquakes, A.D. 7 to A.D. 1899.
NCEI (2017): NGDC/WDS Global Historical Tsunami Database. DOI: 10.7289/ V5PN93H7
Sánchez and Farreras (1993): Catalog of Tsunamis on the Western Coast of Mexico. World Data Center A for Solid Earth Geophysics Publication, SE-50. (in Spanish and English)
Satake et al. (2020): History and features of trans-oceanic tsunamis and implications for paleotsunami studies. Earth-Sci. Rev., 202, 103112.
Usami et al. (2013): Nihon Higai Jishin Soran 599–2012, ISBN 4130607596. (in Japanese)