EPICA
European PreInstrumental Earthquake CAtalogue

The European PreInstrumental Earthquake CAtalogue EPICA is the 1000-1899 seismic catalogue compiled within the framework of the SERA (Seismology and Earthquake Engineering Research Infrastructure Alliance for Europe) Horizon 2020 project for the European Seismic Hazard Model 2020 (ESHM20).

EPICA shares the same main principles of transparency, repeatability, and continent wide harmonization of data and procedures, as well as the compilation strategies and methods with SHEEC 1000-1899, of which it is an update. EPICA relies upon the knowledge of European preinstrumental seismicity gathered in the European Archive of Historical Earthquake Data AHEAD, in terms of macroseismic intensity data supplied by descriptive historical seismological studies and macroseismic databases, and parameters from catalogues.

Multiple datasets available in AHEAD for each earthquake were thoroughly analyzed and compared, in order to select the most representative of the knowledge of the earthquake, independently from national limitations. Available intensity data are processed with specific methods. Locations and harmonized magnitudes from selected regional catalogues are adopted if intensity data are not available, otherwise they are combined with those from intensity data for the sake of homogeneity.

EPICA version 1.1 contains 5703 earthquakes with either maximum observed intensity ≥5 or Mw ≥4.0. It relies on 160 sources of MDPs and 39 regional catalogues selected from AHEAD. Parameters are newly assessed from MDPs with harmonized procedures for 3297 earthquakes.

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EPICA version 1.1 is compiled as a product of WP 25 “Update of European Seismic Hazard Model” of the SERA Project within European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No.730900.

Citation

Rovida A., Antonucci A. (2021). EPICA - European PreInstrumental Earthquake CAtalogue, version 1.1 [Dataset]. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). https://doi.org/10.13127/epica.1.1

Rovida A., Antonucci A., Locati M. (2022). The European Preinstrumental Earthquake Catalogue EPICA, the 1000–1899 catalogue for the European Seismic Hazard Model 2020. Earth System Science Data. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5213-2022

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EPICA is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Disclaimer

EPICA delivers data on the European seismicity and it is based on the available scientific knowledge; however, due to the complex natural phenomena covered, the authors cannot be made responsible for any incomplete or unreliable data provided in the catalogue, or for future events that may be inferred by users on the basis of the data provided.

Neither INGV, nor the authors of EPICA are responsible for the use that might be made of the data provided, nor are they responsible for any damage to third-parties caused by conclusions based on the data provided.

Liability claim

The European Union and its Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) are not responsible for any use that may be made of the information any communication activity contains. The content of this publication does not reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Responsibility for the information and views expressed in the therein lies entirely with the author(s).