1956 Chim earthquake

1956 Chim earthquake

UTC time	Doublet earthquake:
	A: 1956-03-16 19:32:43
	B: 1956-03-16 19:43:31
ISC event
	A: 888079
	B: 888080
USGS-ANSS
	A: ComCat
	B: ComCat
Local date	March 16, 1956 (1956-03-16)
Local time	21:32:43
Magnitude
	A: 5.3 Mw
	B: 5.5 Mw
Epicenter	33.78°N 35.58°E / 33.78; 35.58
Areas affected	Lebanon
Casualties	136 dead

The 1956 Chim earthquake was a destructive multiple-shock event that occurred on March 16 in Lebanon along a strand of the Dead Sea Transform (DST) fault system.^[1] The epicenter was located in the south of Lebanon in the Chouf District. Six thousand homes were destroyed and another 17,000 were damaged. The number of persons killed was 136.^[2]

Tectonic setting

The DST is a 1,609 km (1,000 mi) long transform fault that runs in a mostly north–south direction from the northern end of the Red Sea along the Jordan Rift Valley to the Taurus Mountains complex in southern Turkey. The left-lateral fault zone marks the boundary of the Arabian plate and the Sinai-Levantine block and consists of multiple parallel faults.^[3] As the fault moves through Lebanon and Syria the fault trace follows a restraining bend and splits into several strands that include the Serghaya, Rachaya, and Roum faults, as well as the prominent Yammouneh fault.^[4]

Earthquake

The Roum fault runs for a length of 35 kilometers (22 mi) between the Hula basin the Awali river and is the westernmost strand of the fault system in that area. A paleoseismic trench investigation revealed that it may have been the source of the twin-shock event.^[5]

The twin shocks were separated by less than fifteen minutes with the first event occurring at 19:32 and the second event at 19:43 hours.^[2] The initial shock was estimated to measure (M_w  = 5.3) and the second event was rated (M_w  = 5.5).

See also

• List of earthquakes in 1956
• List of earthquakes in the Levant

References

1. Galey, Patrick (March 12, 2010). "Scientists predict large Lebanon earthquake looming". The Daily Star.
2. Brazee, Rutlage J.; Cloud, William K. (1956), United States Earthquakes, United States Department of Commerce / UNited States Coast and Geodetic Survey, p. 50
3. Daeron, M.; Klinger, Y.; Tapponnier, P.; Elias, A.; Jacques, E.; Sursock, A. (2005), "Sources of the large A.D. 1202 and 1759 Near East earthquakes" (PDF), Geology, 33 (7): 529, Bibcode:2005Geo....33..529D, doi:10.1130/G21352.1, archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03, retrieved 2012-08-02
4. Mohamad, Randa; Nasser Darkal, Abdul; Seber, Dogan; Sandvol, Eric; Gomez, Francisco; Barazangi, Muawia (2000), "Remote Earthquake Triggering along the Dead Sea Fault in Syria following the 1995 Gulf of Aqaba Earthquake (Ms = 7.3)", Seismological Research Letters, 71 (1): 48, Bibcode:2000SeiRL..71...47M, doi:10.1785/gssrl.71.1.47, hdl:1813/5321
5. Nemer, Tony; Meghraoui, Mustapha (2006), "Evidence of coseismic ruptures along the Roum fault (Lebanon): a possible source for the AD 1837 earthquake", Journal of Structural Geology, 28 (8): 1483–1495, Bibcode:2006JSG....28.1483N, doi:10.1016/j.jsg.2006.03.038