1905 Tsetserleg earthquake

8.0 Mw earthquake in Mongolia

49°43′N 98°29′E / 49.71°N 98.48°E / 49.71; 98.48 ^[1]Areas affectedMongolia

The 1905 Tsetserleg earthquake occurred in or near the Tsetserleg Sum of Khövsgöl Province in Mongolia on 9 July 1905. The earthquake has been estimated at 7.9^[3]^[4] to 8.3^[1] on the moment magnitude scale.

Background

The Tsetserleg earthquake is believed to be a strike-slip rupture of a branch of the Bolnai Fault, extending about 190 km. The fault displacement during the earthquake was greater than 5 m,^[3] and the duration is estimated at about one minute.^[2] However, this interpretation is contested; field surveys after the earthquake show a complex rupture not necessarily characteristic of a strike-slip mechanism.^[5]

The Tsetserleg earthquake was followed two weeks later by the Bolnai earthquake, and is considered a part of the same general crustal movement.

Damage

There are few records of the immediate effects of the earthquake due to the remoteness of Mongolia in 1905. However, rockslides were reported in the nearby mountains, and supposedly "two lakes, each of eight acres in size, disappeared".^[6]

Popular culture

Lasting damage to the landscape from the earthquake can be seen in the season 3 Mongolia special of the Amazon Prime motoring show The Grand Tour.^[7]^[8]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "M8.3 - central Mongolia". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2015-03-11.
^ ^a ^b Schlupp, Antoine; Cisternas, Armando (June 2007). "Source history of the 1905 great Mongolian earthquakes (Tsetserleg, Bolnay)". Geophysical Journal International. 169 (3): 1115–1131. Bibcode:2007GeoJI.169.1115S. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2007.03323.x.
^ ^a ^b Okal, Emile A. (March 1977). "The July 9 and 23, 1905, Mongolian earthquakes: A surface wave investigation". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 34 (2): 326–331. Bibcode:1977E&PSL..34..326O. doi:10.1016/0012-821X(77)90018-8.
^ Pollitz, Fred; Vergnolle, Mathilde; Calais, Eric (25 October 2003). "Fault interaction and stress triggering of twentieth century earthquakes in Mongolia" (PDF). Journal of Geophysical Research. 108 (B10): 2503. Bibcode:2003JGRB..108.2503P. doi:10.1029/2002JB002375. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
^ Ilyin, A.V. (September 1978). "Comment on "The July 9 and 23, 1905, Mongolian earthquakes, a surface-wave investigation" by Emile Okal". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 41 (1): 107–109. Bibcode:1978E&PSL..41..107I. doi:10.1016/0012-821X(78)90047-X.
^ Gunn, Angus McLeod (2008). Encyclopedia of Disasters: Environmental Catastrophes and Human Tragedies. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 215–216. ISBN 978-0-313-34002-4.
^ "The Grand Tour" The Mongolia Special-Survival of the Fattest (TV Episode 2019) - IMDb, retrieved 2022-08-23
^ "The Grand Tour" The Mongolia Special-Survival of the Fattest (TV Episode 2019) - IMDb, retrieved 2022-08-23