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Historical Seismicity of the Rijeka
Region (Northwest External Dinarides,
Croatia)—Part II: The Klana Earthquakes
of 1870
by Marijan Herak, Mladen Živčić, Ivica Sović, Ina
Cecić, Iva Dasović, Josip Stipčević, and Davorka
Herak
ABSTRACT
The Klana earthquake sequence with the mainshock on 1
March 1870 (I max
VIII Medvedev–Sponheuer–Karnik
[MSK]) is one of the most important events that occurred
in the Rijeka (Croatia) epicentral region. It is remarkable
not just because of its impact to the local community and
its significance for the seismic hazard in the Rijeka area
but also because it provided some of important observations
on earthquake phenomena during the infancy of seismology.
In particular, Stur (1871) seems to have been the first to
attempt to explain the observed variation in damage by in-
teraction of different local geological units during shaking;
Hoernes (1878) heavily relied on Stur’s data from the Klana
epicentral region when he proposed that the vast majority
of global earthquakes is related to the mountain-building
process and thus named them tectonic earthquakes. Despite
this, the Klana earthquake so far has escaped any detailed
consideration by seismologists. In this study, we present
the historical data sources consulted to extract useful reports
on damage and other observed effects, compile macroseismic
maps for the five strongest events, and invert the estimated
intensity data to compute macroseismic hypocenters and
epicentral intensities for the mainshock and the two strongest
aftershocks. We also present an earthquake chronicle with
data for 92 identified earthquakes in the area for the January–
August 1870 period. The mainshock’s macroseismic
epicenter is located near the active Raša fault–Klana-Novi
Vinodolski fault system, which we thus propose to be the
primary source of the sequence. Macroseismic epicenters of
the aftershocks lie close to the surface trace of the nearby
Skadanščina-Rijeka reverse fault.
Electronic Supplement: Earthquake chronicle and tables of
localities, intensities, and sources.
1524 Seismological Research Letters Volume 89, Number 4
Downloaded from https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/srl/article-pdf/89/4/1524/4228925/srl-2018064.1.pdf
by Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia INGV, Andrea Rovida
INTRODUCTION
The wider epicentral region of Rijeka extends between Ilirska
Bistrica in Slovenia and Bakar in Croatia (Fig. 1). We have
presented our work on three important historical events near
Bakar in the first part of the Rijeka area study (Herak et al.,
2017), and here we shall investigate an important earthquake
of 1 March 1870, which devastated Klana, a small township ly-
ing some 15 km north-northwest of Rijeka (Fig. 1). At that time,
Klana was administratively in the district of Volosko of the Istria
County with the seat in Poreč, nowadays in Croatia. In 1870,
it was under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.
The Klana earthquake attracted much attention with the
contemporary general public and professionals alike. Newspapers
extensively reported on the events, commissions to investigate
the damage were sent out to the epicentral area, and several de-
tailed reports were written. An unprecedented amount of data
regarding earthquake-related phenomena in these parts was col-
lected in the field and documented by competent individuals and
was subsequently analyzed by the best geologists of the time. This
collected material provided vital data in the study of the nature
of earthquake origin, and it was used (along with observations
related to several other earlier earthquakes) by Hoernes (1878)
to propose his classification of earthquakes into cavity-collapse
events, volcanic earthquakes, and the most frequent ones: tec-
tonic earthquakes. Stur (1871) performed the field investigations
around Klana that enabled him to attempt to explain observed
differences in damage as related to the local soil conditions. The
earthquake and its aftermath still attract historians and amateurs
(e.g., Šnajdar, 1997, who published elaborate accounts, analyzed
some archive material). This event left a lasting impression and is
vividly remembered even today by the inhabitants of Klana: the
mainshock occurred on Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras), and ever
since all festivities in Klana related to the Shrovetide (Carnival)
officially end on Monday and not Tuesday (Šnajdar, 1997)!
It is rather surprising that the strongest known event in
the region that clearly plays an important role in hazard esti-
mation of the large surrounding area and has profoundly
affected both the public and earthquake science has so far
July/August 2018 doi: 10.1785/0220180064