Almaty - Seismicity of The Territory of Kazakhstan

Seismicity of The Territory of Kazakhstan

Industrially developed and densely populated areas in the south and southeast of Kazakhstan are situated in the zones with maximum magnitudes of the expected earthquakes equaled from 6.0 to 8.3 (the intensity of I0=8–10).

South seismic active zone of Kazakhstan is a part of the North Tian-Shan ridge system. The main city of Almaty is located near the Zailiski Alatau mountain base. In recorded history prior to the late nineteenth century three catastrophic earthquakes are known to have taken place there. The following are the dates of occurrence and extracts from the historical chronicles of the times: 1770, «…lake on the place of Belovodka village was buried up»; 1807, «in Almaty horrible catastrophe took place»; and the third strong earthquake took place in 1865.

Within the past 125 years three more strong destructive earthquakes occurred here, with focuses not more than 20 – 130 kilometers from the current city location. Their magnitudes were 9 and 11 on MSK scale – 64, and their focuses were located within the range of 100 kilometers. Focuses were located in south and south – east directions: Chilik (1889 y., K���=19.12), Vernenskoe (1887 y., K���=17.14) and Keminskoe (1911 y., K���=18.76). K��� – is energetic class of earthquakes. In each of these earthquakes the city was heavily destroyed. (Baimakhan, Dashdorj, 2006).

Territory of Kyrgyz State adjoins North Tian-Shan. (Aitmatov, Kojogulov, Nikolskaya, 1994.).