HISTORICAL ACCOUNT;NOT ALL CONCLUSIVE LIST OF LARGE BRITISH ISLE EARTHQUAKES

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List of earthquakes in the British Isles

The following is a list of notable earthquakes that have been detected in the British Isles. On average, several hundred earthquakes are detected by the British Geological Survey each year, but almost all are far too faint to be felt by humans. Those that are felt generally cause very little damage. Nonetheless, earthquakes have on occasion resulted in considerable damage, most notably in 1580 and 1884; Musson (2003) reports that there have been ten documented fatalities – six caused by falling masonry and four by building collapse. The causes of earthquakes in the UK are unclear, but may include "regional compression caused by motion of the Earth’s tectonic plates, and uplift resulting from the melting of the ice sheets that covered many parts of Britain thousands of years ago."^[1] Medieval reports of "earthquakes" that threw down newly-built cathedrals may simply have been catastrophic failure of overloaded masonry, particularly towers, rather than actual tectonic events.

EarthquakesEdit

Date	Location	Intensity	${\displaystyle M_{L}}$	Comments	Source
15 April 1185	Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England	~VIII		Lincoln Cathedral badly damaged.	[2]
13 February 1247	South Wales to London, England		~>5.5	Felt in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland	[3][2]
21 December 1248	South West England	VII-VIII		Wells Cathedral reported to have been badly damaged	[2]
11 September 1275	South Wales to Southern England	>VII	~6.0	In Glastonbury, the Abbey was damaged and the Church of St. Michael on the Torr Hill destroyed, as was the priory church on St Michael's Mount in Cornwall. "Only contemporary report of earthquake fatalities before 1580"	[2][4][5]
21 May 1382	Strait of Dover, England	VII-VIII	>5.5	The bell tower of the cathedral was "severely damaged" and the six bells "shook down". Cloister walls to the Canterbury dormitory were ruined. In Kent, All Saints Church, West Stourmouth, was badly damaged. Felt in London (MMVI) and lent its name to the "Earthquake Synod". See 1382 Dover Straits earthquake	[2]
6 April 1580	Strait of Dover, England		~5.8	First recorded fatality. See Dover Straits earthquake of 1580	[2]
8 September 1692	Duchy of Brabant, Belgium		~6.0	Felt in most parts of England, France, Germany and the Netherlands	[6][7]
23 October 1839	Comrie, Perth and Kinross, Scotland		~4.8	Part of a long-lived earthquake swarm. This was the largest of all known Comrie earthquakes, and was felt over most of Scotland. It caused a dam near Stirling to breach.	[2]
28 November 1880	Argyll, Argyll and Bute, Scotland		~5.2	Largest recorded earthquake in Scotland.	[2]
22 April 1884	Colchester, Essex, England	VIII	~4.6	The most damaging earthquake since 1580. At least two fatalities reported. Felt in France and Belgium. See 1884 Colchester earthquake.	[2]
27 June 1906	Swansea, Wales	VII	5.2	One of the most damaging British earthquakes of the 20th century.	[2][8]
7 June 1931	Dogger Bank, North Sea	VI	6.1	Strongest recorded instrumentally. See 1931 Dogger Bank earthquake.	[2]
11 February 1957	Derby, Derbyshire, England		5.3	Felt across central England. Largest UK post-war earthquake until 1984, and one of the most damaging earthquakes of the twentieth century.	[2]
19 July 1984	Llŷn Peninsula, Gwynedd, Wales	VII	5.4	Felt across Ireland and western Great Britain. See 1984 Llŷn Peninsula earthquake.	[2]
27 February 2008	Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, England	VI	5.2	Felt widely in England and Wales. See 2008 England earthquake.	[9]

References

External links

Last edited 7 hours ago by Dawnseeker2000

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