In a low seismicity country like the UK, even moderate earthquakes are rare.
To get an accurate picture of how often the larger events occur, we need to extend
our window of observation back in history. This means examining all available historical
records for reports of ground shaking and determining if this could have been due to
an earthquake. Earthquake location and magnitude are estimated from the intensity of
the shaking at different locations. The following list is a extract of the M5+ earthquakes,
given by Musson (1994), A Catalogue of British Earthquakes, British Geological Survey,
Technical Report WL/94/04.
| Date |
Time |
Lat |
Lon |
Depth |
Mag |
Region |
|
1382/05/21 |
15:00:00 |
51.340 |
2.000 |
25.0 |
5.8 |
DOVER STRAITS |
|
1382/05/24 |
05:30:00 |
51.340 |
2.000 |
|
5.0 |
DOVER STRAITS |
|
1575/02/26 |
17:00:00 |
53.200 |
-1.600 |
|
5.0 |
MIDLANDS |
|
1580/04/06 |
18:00:00 |
51.060 |
1.600 |
22.0 |
5.8 |
DOVER STRAITS |
|
1690/10/07 |
07:15:00 |
53.000 |
-4.200 |
|
5.2 |
CAERNARVON |
|
1727/07/19 |
04:00:00 |
51.570 |
-3.760 |
25.0 |
5.2 |
SWANSEA |
|
1775/09/08 |
21:45:00 |
51.730 |
-3.810 |
19.0 |
5.1 |
SWANSEA |
|
1786/08/11 |
01:55:00 |
54.530 |
-3.680 |
16.0 |
5.0 |
WHITEHAVEN |
|
1816/08/13 |
22:45:00 |
57.430 |
-4.330 |
18.0 |
5.1 |
INVERNESS |
|
1843/03/17 |
00:55:00 |
53.920 |
-3.790 |
17.0 |
5.0 |
IRISH SEA |
|
1852/11/09 |
04:25:00 |
53.020 |
-4.300 |
24.0 |
5.3 |
CAERNARVON |
|
1853/04/01 |
22:45:00 |
49.150 |
-1.700 |
21.0 |
5.2 |
COUTANCES |
|
1863/10/06 |
03:22:00 |
52.000 |
-2.800 |
25.0 |
5.2 |
HEREFORD |
|
1878/01/28 |
11:53:00 |
49.800 |
-0.600 |
16.0 |
5.0 |
NORMANDY |
|
1880/11/28 |
17:45:00 |
56.190 |
-5.300 |
25.0 |
5.2 |
ARGYLL |
|
1889/05/30 |
20:19:00 |
49.400 |
-0.600 |
25.0 |
5.2 |
NORMANDY |
|
1892/08/18 |
00:24:00 |
51.700 |
-5.040 |
26.0 |
5.1 |
PEMBROKE |
|
1893/11/02 |
17:45:00 |
51.810 |
-4.410 |
24.0 |
5.0 |
CARMARTHEN |
|
1896/12/17 |
05:32:00 |
52.020 |
-2.550 |
20.0 |
5.3 |
HEREFORD |
|
1901/09/18 |
01:24:00 |
57.430 |
-4.320 |
11.0 |
5.0 |
INVERNESS |
|
1906/06/27 |
09:45:00 |
51.620 |
-3.810 |
13.0 |
5.2 |
SWANSEA |
|
1925/02/01 |
21:52:00 |
49.160 |
-5.220 |
25.0 |
5.1 |
BRITTANY |
|
1926/07/30 |
13:19:00 |
49.170 |
-1.620 |
18.0 |
5.5 |
CHANNEL ISLANDS |
|
1926/08/15 |
03:58:00 |
52.310 |
-2.660 |
17.0 |
4.8 |
LUDLOW |
|
1927/02/17 |
23:17:00 |
49.170 |
-1.620 |
22.0 |
5.4 |
CHANNEL ISLANDS |
|
1931/06/07 |
00:25:00 |
54.080 |
1.500 |
23.0 |
6.1 |
NORTH SEA |
|
1957/02/11 |
15:43:00 |
52.820 |
-1.330 |
13.0 |
5.3 |
DERBY |
|
1958/02/09 |
23:21:00 |
53.750 |
1.010 |
16.0 |
5.1 |
NORTH SEA |
