British Earthquakes

Abstract

IT is somewhat remarkable that the ordinary notion that Great Britain has a special immunity from serious earthquake phenomena, still very generally obtains credit. An explanation of this popular fallacy may perhaps be found in the simple fact that, on the average, few people living at any one time chance to have experienced any considerable shock; whilst in the case of those few—we except the many who were affected by the disastrous Essex earthquake five years ago—who have felt the sensation, as a momentary mental impression it has been soon forgotten. It should, however, by this time be more generally known and accepted that no part of the habitable globe is entirely exempt from seismic action, and that earth-tremors of considerable amplitude and intensity are by no means necessarily connected with volcanic disturbances, as was formerly supposed. When it is duly recognized that, at the lowest computation, 600 disconnected shocks are known to have taken place in this country during the present era, the popular belief respecting “our tight little island” may well be entirely shaken. This number includes many earthquakes of considerable magnitude, and the additional seismological evidence of modern compilations furnishes the testimony that as many as six or eight minor shocks have occurred annually in recent years. In evidence of the prevalence of such phenomena in England, it should be also remembered that it was on this island that Prof. George Darwin first discovered the fact of the continuous microseismic vibration of the earth's crust.