Earthquakes in Crimea: history and seismic activity at present

Crimea belongs to the seismic zone located in the territory of the Russian Federation. There have been repeatedly observed seismic activity, accompanied by the death of people, the disappearance of cities, changes in the terrain. What is the reason for the ongoing fluctuations of the subsoil, and what is the probability of future earthquakes, we consider in this article.

The first mentions of earthquakes in Crimea that have reached today belong to prehistoric times. Starting from the V century BC. e., in the descriptions of people's lives, as well as in the inscriptions found on the ruins of cities, periodically mention of disasters, natural disasters, flooding of the peninsula caused by the strongest fluctuations of the earth's surface.

Russian naturalists P. Pallas and P. Sumarokov left personal observations of earth tremors in 1780 in Sevastopol, where seismicity was 6 points. Every earthquake is devastation, loss of life, anxiety, fear of an inexplicable phenomenon. Even the 20th century did not bring peace and quiet to the peninsula described. Up to calendar months, you can list all the cataclysms that occurred in this place at the beginning of the century. The statistics of earthquakes are as follows: January 1902, May 1908, October of the same year, December 1919.

The earthquakes of 1927 were the most widespread in terms of material damage and casualties. There were 2 of them: the first - on June 26, the second - on the night of September 11-12. In June, as a result of earth tremors, mountain landslides were observed near Sevastopol, and cracks appeared on the walls of residential buildings. The post office, the temple collapsed, panic began, and those who rest in urgent fashion left the resorts of the peninsula. The amount of damage amounted to 1 million rubles.

The September 1927 earthquake is considered the strongest, the seismicity in points was 9 units. Domestic animals were the first to show the state of anxiety: horses and cows tried to run away somewhere, dogs and cats instinctively tried to be closer to their owners, waiting for help from them. On the sea for several hours there was an incessant rumble, the waves boiled.

Exactly at midnight a dog howl rose throughout the private sector, 15 minutes after midnight the earth trembled, there was a roar, a crash, the sound of broken glass, after a few seconds a second tremor occurred: half-dressed people cried out and cried for help. Experts say that in the first 11 hours, 27 earthquake shocks happened. There were landslides in the mountains, the sea crashed in a huge wave onto the shore, sweeping away everything in its path. Great damage occurred in Yalta: residential buildings were out of order, the Yalta and Russia hotels were damaged.

Simferopol was badly destroyed. The total damage was estimated at 50 million rubles. The death toll was 800 wounded, 16 dead. Cause of death was not only an earthquake, but also panic. Before the elements, people, escaping, jumped out of the windows, fear drove them to a heartbeat.

The Swallow's Nest restaurant is located on a sheer forty-meter Avorina rock in a former castle in 1927.History has conveyed to contemporaries information about the evening on the eve of the tragic events. The last visitors only managed to leave the cozy hall, as a powerful blow rang out.

As a result of a strong shock, a wide crack formed under the castle, a part of the rock and the garden collapsed into the sea, the rest hung over the precipice, the threat of the castle itself collapsed. The building received minor damage, but it was still closed to visitors.

Experts put forward several causes of the Crimean earthquakes.

• In the Black Sea near the Crimea the epicenter of earth tremors is located, it is located at a depth of 200-2000 meters, on the slope of the Black Sea depression. There are contiguous areas of the earth's crust, which make uneven, opposite movements, which causes earthquakes.
• On the line "Simferopol-Bakhchisarai" strong latitudinal faults occur. This leads to the advancement of the seabed beneath the mountains, which is another reason for the fluctuations of the earth's surface.
• Earthquakes are accompanied by a tsunami., which can be caused by active navigation off the coast of Crimea.

The eyewitnesses of the terrible tragedy of 1927 did not survive, more than 90 years have passed since that terrible night, but the Crimean peninsula continues to remain an unsafe zone today. All subsequent tremors were insignificant, did not constitute any seismic danger. The last underground swell in the Crimea was recorded on May 13, 2016, the tremors were weak, the Crimeans got off with only a slight fright. But you should not relax, according to experts, there is a possibility that an earthquake can occur at any time. Since the time of the destructive elements, quite a long time has passed, and earthquakes are unpredictable, and they happen with less frequency.

Modern technologies allow scientists to observe the chemical and physical processes that took place in the earth's crust under the peninsula itself and in the Black Sea depth. They claim that tectonic movements take place, peat, silt, trees fall into the crust, and they ferment at the depth of the sea, which activates mud volcanoes.

Today, earthquakes occur on the territory of the peninsula, but their sources are thousands of kilometers away from the Crimea.

As in any controversial issue, opinions about future earthquakes are divided: some insist that it is inevitable, others do not doubt its absence.

Now, in the age of high technologies, a laboratory of continental seismicity is functioning at the Institute of Physics of the Earth (IHP), which predicts seismic danger. It is the specialists from this laboratory who give information about a possible new earthquake.

Assume various options:

• houses will be destroyed;
• there will be a tsunami;

Rumors about the “coming cataclysm” appear against the background of the popularity of the Crimean holiday season.

The famous artist K. Petrov-Vodkin rested in Crimea for the period of the earthquake in September 1927, he stayed with his family in the midst of destruction, tried to capture the elements of nature on the canvas. As a result of painstaking work, the creator gave the world a masterpiece - the famous painting “Earthquake in the Crimea”. Disasters and writers did not leave indifferent. Earthquake shocks reflected in their novel “12 chairs” I. Ilf and E. Petrov.

The results of studies of earthquakes in the Crimea are given in the following video.