Historical Seismograms - Evidence from the AD 2000 Izu Islands ...

SOME REMARKS ON HISTORICAL SEISMOGRAMSIN SELECTED DEVELOPING COUNTRIES1. IntroductionK. L. SvendsenCIRES, University of ColoradoBoulder, CO 80309, USAandNGDC/NOAABoulder, CO 80909, USAWhile making tours of South American and African geophysical institutions,1979-1982, in connection with a project in geomagnetism, I took the opportunity toinquire about their seismology programs, especially as they relate to the HistoricalSeismogram Filming Project.First, I did not worry about countries that have stations in the World-WideStandard Seismograph Network (WWSSN). I assumed that the committee alreadyhad communicated with these countries and probably knew what was available.For those who are interested in further development of the world network, I haveincluded a few comments on that subject also.2. Countries VisitedThe following are comments on the seismogram projects in each country visited.Mexico. The Director of the Institute of Geophysics of the National Universityoffered his complete cooperation in the project, but did not know what seismogramsare in the archives.Costa Rica. There are five stations operated by the university and eight stationsoperated by the electrical institute. All records will be made available tothe project. One old station was operated by the National Museum from about1910-1920. Unfortunately, no one knew where those records are stored.Bolivia. The Observatorio San Calixto has seismograms dating from 1912. Allrecords will be available to the project.Chile. The records are at the University of Chile. Three stations operated from1909 at Santiago, Copiapo, and Puntarenas. There were two horizontal componentsonly, and there was a gap of about 10 years. All of these records have been editedand prepared for filming. The present network comprises Antofagasta, Peldehue,and Sombrero.Argentina. The University of La Plata has many old records, even though manyof them have disappeared. However, because many of the records were made withno damping, most probably were not good anyway. The University asked that allfilming be done in Argentina with the assistance of their archivist.Uruguay. Seismograms are available only for a few recent years; these wererecorded by the University of the Republic.Historical Seismogramsand Earthquakes of the World497 Copyright 0 1988 by Academic Press, Inc.All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.