Historical (Pre-Digital) Earthquake Information at the UC Berkeley Seismological Lab

Date: 4/26/2019

Time: 01:45 PM

Room: Pike

What is now the University of California’s (UC) Berkeley Seismological Laboratory (BSL) was founded in 1887 with the installation of Ewing Seismographs at Mt. Hamilton (MTC) and at Student Observatory Hill (BRK) on UC's Campus. The first earthquakes were recorded in April 1887. Since then, the archives at the BSL have continued to grow. From 1887-1910, the earthquake records consist almost solely of log-books from the observers at MHC and UC. The exception are seismic records from the 1906 earthquake recorded in the Bay Area and collected in the Lawson Report, along with seismograms from all over the world. In 1910, the BSL purchased a Wiechert Seismograph, which operated into the 1950s, and continued to upgrade instrumentation over time. Only a few seismic records from 1910 to the early 1920s are available in the BSL’s archives, however. With the arrival of Perry Byerly in the 1920s, the BSL took on responsibility for earthquake reporting in Northern California. The Bolt-Miller Catalog (https://berkeley.app.box.com/s/iy6nz14k47uy0h571fuc6na64jyumtuu) summarizes earthquakes recorded from 1910-1972 and covers equipment from contributing stations. Original readings sheets are also still available. Paper and film records from the mid-1920s to the early 1990s are still archived and available at the BSL. We continue to explore ways to make them more easily available. The BSL also has a variety of other resources describing earthquakes, including original felt and newspaper reports. The Byerly Collection includes seismic records from all over the world for some earthquakes such as the Fairweather quake in 1958, and the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake. Records from the BSL’s historical collection have been used to study predigital earthquakes (Parkfield earthquakes, Fairweather earthquake, 1960 Chile earthquake), nuclear explosions, as well as wave formation and climate in the Pacific Ocean, and for other applications.

Presenting Author: Margaret Hellweg

Authors