To this day has come a lot of evidence aboutdevastating earthquakes that took place several thousand years ago. They often caused entire cities to disappear from the map, and the number of victims was in the tens of thousands.
There are “troubled” regions on the territory of our country. This was reminded by the earthquake in the Crimea on May 13, 2016.
According to experts, in the area betweenGurzuf and Yalta, in the Black Sea, is a zone where the epicenters of the Crimean earthquakes are most often observed. Their foci, as a rule, are located 10–40 km from the coast. At the same time, they are fixed at a depth of 200-2000 m, on the steep part of the Black Sea depression. It is there that contact areas of the earth's crust, making oppositely directed vertical movements. They occur unevenly and are accompanied by earthquakes.
Another cause of shocks in the Crimea -the rise of mountains associated with the promotion of the seabed. Many millions of years ago, as a result of such processes, Pilaki, Sharkh, Ayu-Dag, Kastel, etc. were formed, and the most powerful catastrophe caused the explosion of the Karadag volcano.
Another line of the most powerful latitudinal faultpasses through the line "Simferopol-Bakhchisarai". Traces of ancient earthquakes in the form of deposits of igneous rocks in numerous quarries are also visible in this zone.
At present, various physical and chemical processes continue to occur in the crust beneath the peninsula of Crimea and under the bottom of the Black Sea.
As a result of powerful tectonicof movements on the peninsula, organic materials (trees, bog peat, lake silt, etc.) fell into the crust in the earth's crust, their fermentation continues at a great depth, and the resulting fluid is thrown through mud volcanoes.
On the territory of the Crimea are also feltearthquakes, the sources of which are hundreds or thousands of miles away from the peninsula. For example, in recent decades, an “echo” of 2-4 points has been observed due to earthquakes occurring in Romania, Iraq and Turkey.
It is believed that the first written mention ofSuch a natural cataclysm is the entry in the book “Against pagans” by Paul Orosius, written in the 5th century AD e. In it, he reports that in 63 BC. e. there was such a strong earthquake in the Crimea that many people died and entire cities were destroyed.
A similar catastrophe occurred in Chersonesos in September-October 480 AD. This event is reminiscent of an inscription found on the ruins of the city.
The following strong earthquakes wererecorded in 1292 and in 1471. In addition, in the work of Byzantine George Kedrin "History" it is mentioned about the natural disaster that occurred in 1341, when, following shocks, the peninsula was flooded to a distance of 10 miles (deep from the coast). Apparently, the epicenter was in the sea, which caused the appearance of a very high wave.
Since the beginning of the 18th century, more detaileddescriptions of seismic phenomena. For example, P. Pallas, a Russian naturalist of German origin, gave a detailed description of the earthquakes of 1790 and 1793, and on shocks recorded in 1802, P. Sumarokov left detailed evidence. Moreover, the latter observed them in Sevastopol, where the strength of the cataclysm was 6 points.
The inhabitants of the peninsula especially remembered the earthquake in the Crimea in 1838, which was felt not only in the settlements of the Southern Coast, but also in Simferopol.
She also disaster struck in 1869. Its epicenter was near Foros, it caused damage to medieval Genoese buildings, causing panic among the population.
The first fairly strong earthquake wasrecorded in January 1902. Fortunately, it did not cause casualties and destruction. The tremors were also noted on May 18, 1908. In addition, in the archive documents of the office of the Tauride governor, there is an earthquake record with a jolting force of 5-6 points, which was observed on October 24, 1908.
Much evidence has been preserved about the catastrophe,which happened on December 26, 1919. This earthquake in Crimea accompanied a storm of extraordinary power. It caused damage to the port of Yalta and damage to the telegraph network.
During the summer and autumn in the region was observedincreased seismic activity. At the time of the earthquake, which took place at 1:30 pm on June 26, 1927, the fishermen noticed that in clear weather the sea seemed to boil, and then there was a strong noise. He was so loud that he stunned those who bathed.
An earthquake in the Crimea in 1927 was preceded by the appearance of a long strip of foam that stretched across the coast, in the bay between Cape Plaka and Ayu-Dag.
As a result, tremors were recorded largelandslides in the vicinity of Sevastopol, where cracks have appeared in many houses. In addition, the buildings of one of the temples and the post office were damaged. Panic began, and tourists began to hurry to leave the resorts of the peninsula. As the newspapers of that time reported, the total amount of losses exceeded 1 million rubles.
None of the described natural disasters cancompare the degree of damage to what happened on the peninsula on the night of September 11-12, 1927. The epicenter was located south of Yalta, under the seabed, and was stretched along the coast. It is established that the second earthquake in the Crimea in 1927 had a strength of 9 points.
Its first signs were noticed by localresidents and vacationers already about 8 o'clock in the evening. In particular, peasants and collective farmers noticed that the domestic animals began to worry noticeably: the horses bellowed and tried to escape from the stables, the cows constantly mooed, and the dogs and cats tried to keep closer to the owners.
The fishermen, who set out for the night fishing, heard the buzzon the sea in the area between Sudak and Alushta. In addition, they were frightened by the "boiling" of the sea, and at midnight in all the settlements along the coast dogs began to howl. 15 minutes after midnight, there was a strong roar, the earth hesitated. The second impetus occurred 10 seconds after the first, and after it there were a few more fluctuations of the earth's hardness. The sea first departed from the coast, and then hit the sand in a high wave. In the mountains, the crash of crashes was heard.
This is the strongest earthquake in the Crimea, whichPetrov-Vodkin dedicated one of his canvases, caused a lot of destruction. In Alushta, the Genoese Tower and several hotels were damaged, in Alupka - a mosque and the Vorontsov Palace. Nearly 70 percent of buildings suffered in the vicinity of Yalta, and in the city itself - the hotels Yalta and Russia, as well as residential buildings.
The peninsula continues to be seismiczone and at the moment. After another earthquake occurred in the Crimea (1990), many began to treat the seismic hazard lightly. And this is natural, since the eyewitnesses of the catastrophe of 1927 almost did not survive, and the last shocks recorded in the 20th century turned out to be quite weak. There was no destruction and the earthquake in the Crimea on May 13, 2016, as a result of which the Crimeans got off with only a slight fright. However, experts do not advise to relax. Indeed, at any moment a rather strong earthquake may occur in the Crimea. The forecast of some seismologists is disappointing, since almost 80 years have passed since the last strong cataclysm, and, as practice shows, they are even less frequent. Even if we assume that these specialists are wrong, we need to understand that earthquakes are unpredictable, and in such parts of the world as the Crimea, they can occur at any time.
