U.S. National Atlas Historic Earthquakes represents the locations of significant, historic earthquakes in United States and adjacent Canada and Mexico that caused deaths, property damage, and geological effects, or were otherwise experienced by the resident populations.
U.S. National Atlas Historic Earthquakes provides the locations of significant, historic earthquakes for geographic display and analysis at regional and national levels. This data set is intended for a mixed audience of specialists and non-specialists alike who have a need for general, non-technical information about significant U.S. earthquakes.
Largest scale when displaying the data: 1:1,000,000.
ground condition
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The attribute table was scanned for unreasonable attribute values of depth and magnitude.
No formal tests for logical consistency were performed on this data set, principally because the data set contains attribute values that were arrived at by either or both quantitative (i.e. instrumental) and qualitative (i.e. historical) methods. Earthquakes that occurred prior to the introduction of seismological instrumentation are known only from written records, such as newspapers, books and journals, and diaries, which often may provide contradictory information that has to be carefully examined and weighed. As seismographs became more common in the early 1960's, the origin time and location were both more precisely and accurately determined but the compilation and evaluation of intensity reports was, and still is, a process that involves considerable subjectivity. As a result, all attributes associated with a given earthquake should be considered provisional and subject to further revision based on acquisition of new information and use of new analytical methods. The shapefile is converted to SDC (Smart Data Compression) format using either ESRI SDC Data Development Kit Professional 2 (DDKP2) or tools in ArcGIS. The SDC data set is then loaded into ArcSDE® to verify and validate the geometry.
This data set contains information on significant, historical earthquakes that caused deaths, property damage, geological effects, or that were experienced by populations in the epicentral area, for the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and adjacent Canada and Mexico. These data are limited to the best estimates of earthquake locations and to attributes such as magnitude and maximum intensity. After processing, the data set is checked for drawing display and number of records and file sizes compared with source materials.
100 meters is the nominal precision of the reported instrumentally located coordinate values but accuracy is considerably less. Accuracy depends upon numerous factors including imprecision of the velocity model of the earth, uneven distribution of seismic stations, and imprecisions in the computational algorithm. Following initial proofreading of the input data file, a preliminary map of the locations of the earthquakes was produced which was examined for gross errors in spatial location.
Although depths are reported to the nearest one kilometer, the accuracy for recent earthquakes is considerably less owing to uncertainties in the velocity model of the earth, uneven distribution of seismic stations, and imprecisions in the computational algorithm.
Attribute and geospatial data
Data for the years 1568 to 1989, from the Seismicity of the United States, 1568-1989 (Revised) (1993), were combined with the Preliminary Determination of Epicenters (2004) data for 1990 to 2004. The Earthquake History of the United States (1982) and the Project catalogue and seismic hazard maps, Seismic hazard in Latin America and the Caribbean (1997) were used to compile information for additional locations or for years not covered by the other sources. The resulting text file was loaded into ArcView and converted to a shapefile. Three records for Puerto Rico were dropped because they did not include values for longitude and latitude.
The following steps were performed by ESRI: Downloaded the compressed file from the National Atlas of the United States® and uncompressed the shapefile (quksigx020.shp). Removed attributes STATE, DEATHS, and DAMAGE. Renamed and rearranged the remaining attributes. Removed features near Guam. Converted the data set to SDC. Created ArcGIS® layer file (.lyr), projection file (.prj), and spatial indices.
Internal feature number.
ESRI
Feature geometry.
ESRI
The depth of focus of the earthquake in kilometers. A value of 0 may indicate the depth is unknown.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
Unknown.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
The maximum magnitude of the earthquake. The maximum magnitude is the greatest of the body wave magnitude, duration, moment magnitude, surface wave magnitude, or local magnitude defined for the region.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
Unknown.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
The Modified Mercalli Intensity of the earthquake, where the integer value represents the Roman numeral designation of the MMI intensity.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
The earthquake was felt but no Modified Mercalli Intensity was assigned.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
Felt only by a few persons at rest, especially on upper floors of buildings. Delicately suspended objects may swing.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
Felt quite noticeably by persons indoors, especially on upper floors of buildings. Many people do not recognize it as an earthquake. Standing motorcars may rock slightly. Vibration similar to the passing of truck. Duration estimated.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
Felt indoors by many, outdoors by few during the day. At night, some awakened. Dishes, windows, doors disturbed; walls make cracking sound. Sensation like heavy truck striking building. Standing motorcars rocked noticeably.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
Felt by nearly everyone; many awakened. Some dishes, windows broken. Unstable objects overturned. Pendulum clocks may stop.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
Felt by all; many frightened. Some heavy furniture moved; a few instances of fallen plaster. Damage slight.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
Damage negligible in building of good design and construction; slight to moderate in well-built ordinary structures; considerable damage in poorly built or badly designed structures; some chimneys broken. Noticed by persons driving motorcars.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
Damage slight in specially designed structures; considerable in ordinary substantial buildings with partial collapse. Damage great in poorly built structures. Fall of chimneys, factory stacks, columns, monuments, and walls. Heavy furniture overturned.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
Damage considerable in specially designed structures; well-designed frame structures thrown out of plumb. Damage great in substantial buildings, with partial collapse. Buildings shifted off foundations.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
Some well-built wooden structures destroyed; most masonry and frame structures destroyed with foundations. Railroad rails bent.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
Few, if any (masonry) structures remain standing. Bridges destroyed. Railroad rails bent greatly.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
Damage total. Lines of sight and level distorted. Objects thrown into the air.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
The name of the town, city, physical feature, or other describable location nearest to the occurrence.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
The year of the occurrence.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
The month of the occurrence.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
Unknown.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
The day of the month of the occurrence.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
Unknown.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
The hour of day of the occurrence on a 24-hour clock in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
Unknown.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
The minute of the hour of the occurrence.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
Unknown.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
The second of the minute of the occurrence.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
Unknown.
National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
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See use constraints.
The SDC file contains the geospatial and attribute data. The SDI file contains the spatial index. The PRJ file contains the coordinate system information (optional). The XML file (*.sdc.xml) contains the metadata describing the data set (optional).
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