{{Short description|Earthquake in Armenia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox earthquake |title= 893 Dvin earthquake | pre-1900= yes |local-date= {{Start date text|28 December 893}} |local-time = Midnight |map2 = {{Location map | Armenia | label= | lat=40.0 | long=44.6 | mark=Bullseye1.png | marksize=40 | position=top | width= 250 | float=right | caption= | relief=yes}} |magnitude = 5.3–6.0 or ≥7.0 |intensity = {{MMI|9}}–{{MMI|X}} |depth= |location=Dvin<br/>{{coord|40.0|44.6|display=inline,title}} |countries affected = Armenia |casualties = 30,000<ref name="Nick">{{cite book|last1=Ambraseys|first1=N.N.|author-link=Nicholas Ambraseys|last2=Melville|first2=C.P.|title=A History of Persian Earthquakes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1JkfKub5vakC&pg=PA175|series=Cambridge Earth Science Series|year=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-02187-6|page=38}}</ref> }} The '''893 Dvin earthquake''' occurred on 28 December 893 at around midnight. It had a magnitude of approximately 6 and a maximum intensity of approximately IX (''Violent'') on the Mercalli intensity scale. It destroyed the city of Dvin in Armenia, causing approximately 30,000 casualties.
The earthquake is sometimes referred to as the '''893 Ardabil earthquake'''. Although the 893 Ardabil earthquake appears in several catalogues the event may not have happened. The similarity of the Arabic name for Dvin, 'Dabil' to Ardabil in northwestern Iran, may have caused confusion in written records.<ref name="Musson2">{{cite web |last=Musson |first=R. |date=7 March 2001 |title=The ten deadliest ever earthquakes |url=http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/archive/archive_collections/Deadly.htm |access-date=1 October 2011 |publisher=British Geological Survey}}</ref><ref name="Gupta2">{{cite book |last=Gupta |first=H. |author-link=Harsh Gupta |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BHgOwNCGbnAC&pg=PA566 |title=Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics |publisher=Springer |year=2011 |isbn=978-90-481-8701-0 |edition=2 |series=Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences |page=566}}</ref><ref name="Nick3">{{cite book |last1=Ambraseys |first1=N.N. |author-link1=Nicholas Ambraseys |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1JkfKub5vakC&pg=PA175 |title=A History of Persian Earthquakes |last2=Melville |first2=C.P. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-521-02187-6 |series=Cambridge Earth Science Series |page=38}}</ref> The Ardabil area is prone to numerous earthquakes and was struck by a major earthquake in 1997.
==Tectonic setting== Southern Armenia lies within the complex zone of continental collision between the Arabian plate and the Eurasian plate, which extends from the Bitlis-Zagros belt in the south to the Greater Caucasus Mountains, the Apsheron-Balkan Sill and the Kopet Dag mountains in the north.<ref name="Talebian">{{cite journal|last=Talebian|first=M.|author2=Jackson J.|year=2004|title=A reappraisal of earthquake focal mechanisms and active shortening in the Zagros mountains of Iran|journal=Geophysical Journal International|volume=156|issue=3|pages=506–526|doi=10.1111/j.1365-246X.2004.02092.x|bibcode = 2004GeoJI.156..506T |doi-access=free}}</ref> In Armenia the collision is strongly oblique with a large dextral (right lateral) strike-slip component. The Sardarapat-Nakhicheven fault system is formed of four left-stepping fault segments, the Kagyzman, Sardarapat, Parackar-Dvin and Nakhichevan faults. Movement on the Parackar-Dvin segment of this fault system has been associated with a series of large earthquakes in the second half of the 9th century.<ref name="Karakhanian">{{cite journal|last=Karakhanian|first=A.S.|author2=Trifonov V.G. |author3=Philip H. |author4=Avagyan A. |author5=Hessami K. |author6=Jamali F. |author7=Bayraktutan M.S. |author8=Bagdassarian H. |author9=Arakelian S. |author10=Davtian V. |author11=Adilkhanyan A.|year=2004|title=Active faulting and natural hazards in Armenia, eastern Turkey and northwestern Iran|journal=Tectonophysics|volume=380|issue=3–4|page=206|doi=10.1016/j.tecto.2003.09.020|bibcode = 2004Tectp.380..189K }}</ref><ref name="Mkrtchian">{{cite book|last=Mkrtchian|first=H.K.|editor=Balassanian S., Cisternas A. & Melkumyan M.|title=Earthquake hazard and seismic risk reduction|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MwUEbRU6oXAC&pg=PA153|series=Advances in natural and technological hazards research|volume=12|year=2000|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-7923-6390-3|pages=156–157|chapter=A major neotectonic structure within the Arabia-Eurasia collisional orogen: the Ararat-Araks conjugate fault system and its possible impact on the safety of the Metsamor nuclear power plant}}</ref>
==Earthquake characteristics== The magnitude of this earthquake has been given as 5.3 and 6, although a value of 7 or greater has been suggested.<ref name="Mkrtchian"/> The main shock was followed by five days of damaging aftershocks.<ref name="Nick"/> The intensity is estimated to be at least IX on the Mercalli intensity scale, with some seismologists suggesting that X would be a more appropriate value.<ref name="Mkrtchian"/>
==Damage== The city was devastated with most of its buildings destroyed, including its defensive walls, the palace of the catholicos and all the other monumental buildings; just 100 houses were left standing.<ref name="Hasrat'yan">{{cite journal|last=Hasrat'yan|first=M.|year=1995|title=The medieval earthquakes of the Armenian Plateau and the historic towns of Ayrarat and Shirak (Dvin, Ani, Erevan)|journal=Annali di Geofisica|volume=38|issue=5–6|pages=719–722|url=http://www.earth-prints.org/bitstream/2122/1795/1/22%20hasrat%27yan.pdf|access-date=4 October 2011}}</ref> The area damaged included the Artashat Plateau, where landslides were triggered. The Bishop of R'shtunik, Grigor, who was at a mountain retreat was killed with several of his followers.<ref name="Nick"/> The death toll is variously reported as 20,000, 30,000, 70,000, 82,000, 150,000 and 180,000 in historical sources.<ref name="Nick"/><ref name="NGDC"/>
==Aftermath== The earthquake had ruined the city's defenses and Dvin was taken by Muhammad ibn Abi'l-Saj, the Sajid emir of Adharbayjan, who turned it into a military base. Although the capital of Armenia was moved to Ani in 961, Dvin became prosperous once more in the 10th century following its reconstruction.<ref name="Adalian">{{cite book|last=Adalian|first=R.P.|title=Historical Dictionary of Armenia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QS-vSjHObOYC&pg=PA287|edition=2|series=Historical dictionaries of Europe G – Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects|volume=77|year=2010|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-6096-4|pages=287–288}}</ref>
==Confusion over the location and date== There has been much confusion over the location and date of this earthquake. Several Armenian sources place it clearly at Dvin in Armenia, the night after a lunar eclipse that occurred on 27 December 893. However, the location has been given as Ardabil in several sources. The event was recorded by contemporary Armenian and Arabic chroniclers, including Ibn al-Jawzi. The Arabic name for the city is ''Dabil'', and this may have led the 14th-century writer Ibn Kathir to place the earthquake in Ardabil in Azerbaijan. Ibn Kathir was then quoted by al-Suyuti in the 15th century. Further writers also placed the earthquake in Ardabil, and added some details, such as waters drying up, while changing others, such as making the eclipse preceding the earthquake solar instead of lunar.<ref name="Nick3" />
Almost all of the Dvin earthquake's details are repeated in these reports, although in most cases the observed lunar eclipse has become a solar eclipse. One source refers to this earthquake as taking place in 'Outer India' at an unnamed capital. This report has been repeated in several other sources, with the location given as 'Daibul', near modern Karachi. It is now considered that no such earthquake occurred in India/Pakistan<ref name="Nick2">{{cite journal|last=Ambraseys|first=N.N.|year=2004|title=Three little known early earthquakes in India|journal=Current Science|volume=86|issue=4|pages=506–508|jstor=24107899}}</ref> and that the 'well known' alleged 893 Ardabil earthquake is a phantom, despite it appearing in many modern catalogues and reference books.<ref name="Musson">{{cite web|url=http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/archive/archive_collections/Deadly.htm|title=The ten deadliest ever earthquakes|last=Musson|first=R.|date=7 March 2001|publisher=British Geological Survey|access-date=1 October 2011}}</ref><ref name="Gupta">{{cite book|last=Gupta|first=H.|title=Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BHgOwNCGbnAC&pg=PA566|edition=2|series=Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences|year=2011|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-90-481-8701-0|page=566}}</ref>
In the National Geophysical Data Center earthquake database entry for this event, the date of the earthquake is variously given as 23 March, 27 March, 14 December, 24 December, with the year as 893, 894 or 895 in the quoted sources.<ref name="NGDC">{{cite web|url=http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/nndc/struts/results?eq_0=268&t=101650&s=13&d=22,26,13,12&nd=display|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120526003955/http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/nndc/struts/results?eq_0=268&t=101650&s=13&d=22,26,13,12&nd=display|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 May 2012|title=Comments for the Significant Earthquake|last=National Geophysical Data Center|author-link=National Geophysical Data Center|access-date=1 October 2011}}</ref>
==See also== *List of earthquakes in Armenia *List of historical earthquakes
==References== {{Reflist}} {{1st-millennium earthquakes}} {{Earthquakes in Armenia}}
0893 Category:9th-century earthquakes Category:893 Category:9th century in Armenia Category:History of Dvin Category:Bagratid Armenia