Early Earthquakes of the Americas
Early Earthquakes of the Americas
$163.00
USDThis book was first published in 2004. There is emerging interest amongst researchers from various subject areas in understanding the interplay of earthquake and volcanic occurrences, archaeology and history. This discipline has become known as archeoseismology. Ancient earthquakes often leave their mark in the myths, legends, and literary accounts of ancient peoples, the stratigraphy of their historical sites, and the structural integrity of their constructions. Such information leads to a better understanding of the irregularities in the time-space patterns of earthquake and volcanic occurrences and whether they could have been a factor contributing to some of the enigmatic catastrophes in ancient times. This book focuses on the historical earthquakes of North and South America, and describes the effects those earthquakes have had with illustrated examples of recent structural damage at archaeological sites. It is written at a level that will appeal to students and researchers in the fields of earth science, archaeology, and history.
- Archaeoseismology is an emerging field and this is one of the first books to tackle this increasingly popular discipline
- Heavily illustrated with many photographs of seismic damage to archaeological features that have never been published before
- The author is an eminent seismologist and is known internationally for his work in this area
Reviews & endorsements
"Early Earthquakes of the Americas is entertaining, intellectually satisfying, and certainly not short on factual and physical detail."
James F. Ni, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces
"Well written, clear, and concise and is well worth reading for those with an interest in earethquakes and the impacts of natural disasters on indigenous peoples of the Americas."
Canadian Journal of Archaeology
"Sleuthing out the occurrence of prehistoric earthquakes has a practical value. It provides data about the frequency and intensity of earthquakes along known faults, improving the understanding of the risks there. So it’s an area of serious, important academic pursuit. But it’s also way cool. And its especially cool when piecing together the prehistoric earthquakes of the Americas which, Robert Kovach points out, are often shrouded in the myth and mystery of the early people here … All of this and more is included in this interesting volume that digs deeply into the earthquake history of the Americas over the last five hundred years or so."
Dan Whipple, The Observer
Product details
April 2004Hardback
9780521824897
286 pages
244 × 170 × 17 mm
0.784kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Preface
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Earthquake mosaic of the Americas
- 3. Myths and legends
- 4. Earthquake effects
- 5. Earthquakes of Mexico
- 6. Earthquakes in the Maya Empire
- 7. Earthquakes of Costa Rica, Panama and Columbia
- 8. Earthquakes of Peru and Chile
- 9. Early California earthquakes
- 10. Earthquakes of the northern American cordillera
- 11. Earthquakes of eastern and central North America
- 12. Conclusions and speculations
- Appendix A. Data relating magnitude to extent of Modified Mercalli intensity of VII
- Appendix B. Data relating magnitude to extent of Modified Mercalli intensity of > VI, Mexican earthquakes
- Appendix C. Rossi–Forel seismic intensity scale
- Glossary
- Bibliographic summaries
- References
- Index.
