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A Glimpse at the History of Seismology in Algeria

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The Geology of the Arab World---An Overview

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Abstract

Seismology has a long tradition stretching back over three centuries in Algeria since the country is an earthquake-prone area. This paper presents a quick overview on the development of seismology in Algeria from the first written records of seismic events in the fourteenth century up to the monitoring of earthquakes and modern, and historical seismological studies nowadays. We particularly focus on the important milestones on the way of progress of seismology in Algeria and present a summary on what has been achieved so far in seismology research and education.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The first nucleus of earth scientists at CRAAG was constituted by Abdeslam Abtout, Mourad Bezzeghoud, Mohamed El Messaoud Derder, Nacer-Eddine Merabet, Mustapha Meghraoui, and Abdelkarim Yelles-Chaouche.

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Acknowledgements

The work presented in this paper was conducted as a part of the CRAAG project E007/08. This work benefited from thoughtful comments and suggestions from the main actors of the development of seismology in Algeria during different recent periods of time. Special thanks are due to Yelles-Chaouche Abdelkarim, director of CRAAG (1998–present); Mourad Bezzeghoud, head of the Seismology and Survey Department at CRAAG in 1989–1996 (presently at Évora University, Portugal); Ayadi Abdelhakim, head of the Algeria seismic network in 1990–1998 (CRAAG, Algeria). Sincere thanks are also due to Djamel Mati for his helpful information on the IMPGA where he worked in the 1970s before moving to CNAAG, then CRAAG, and to Toufik Abdelatif, Astrophysicist at CRAAG for the useful documents that he kindly provided. The authors wish to pay tribute to the first Algerian seismologist who is the late Professor Hadj Benhallou (1937–2011), for his continued guidance and support when they were young scientists, and for his dedication to the development of research in fundamental geophysics in Algeria.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre de Recherche en Astronomie, Astrophysique et Géophysique, BP 63, Bouzaréah, 16340, Algiers, Algeria

    Assia Harbi & Amal Sebaï

  2. Simons Fellow at Abdus Salam, International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Strada Costiera, 11, 34151, Trieste, Italy

    Assia Harbi

  3. Université des Sciences et de la Technologie Houari Boumediène, BP 32, El Alia, 16111, Bab Ezzouar, Algiers, Algeria

    Mohamed Salah Boughacha

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  1. Assia Harbi
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Science and Technology Houari Boumediene, Algiers, Algeria

    Abderrahmane Bendaoud

  2. Department of Geology, Benha University, Benha, Egypt

    Zakaria Hamimi

  3. Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Science and Technology Houari Boumediene, Algiers, Algeria

    Mohamed Hamoudi

  4. Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Science and Technology Houari Boumediene, Algiers, Algeria

    Safouane Djemai

  5. Department of Geology, Benha University, Benha, Egypt

    Basem Zoheir

Appendix: Extract of the Text on the New Mode of Construction of Buildings in Order to Protect the Buildings from Earthquakes, Published in French in Afrique du Nord Illustrée of June 19, 1909

Appendix: Extract of the Text on the New Mode of Construction of Buildings in Order to Protect the Buildings from Earthquakes, Published in French in Afrique du Nord Illustrée of June 19, 1909

Le principe qui a présidé à l’établissement du plan a été de proscrire tous les éléments constructifs n’ayant pas de stabilité propre, comme la voûte formant plancher qui, par ses poussées, jette les murs dehors au premier frisson du sol. La carcasse de cette villa se compose essentiellement de douze colonnes en béton armé, entrecroisées entre elles, à la base, par une série de nervures et, à chaque tiers de leur hauteur, par les planchers en béton armé qui forment avec elles une ossature indéformable. Chaque panneau extérieur de la «cage» a été cloisonné par deux muretles de 10 centimètres d’épaisseur en moellons de machefer fabriqués sur place. Entre ces deux murettes, il a été ménagé un vide de 20 centimètres, en sorte que ce matelas d’air intercepte, d’une façon parfaite et bien mieux que ne le ferait un mur de 50 centimètres d’épaisseur, le bruit, le froid et la chaleur. Les cloisons intérieures sont également en machefer. Qu’une secousse sismique survienne. Le pis qu’il puisse arriver, c’est la projection de droite et de gauche des murettes et cloisons; mais l’ossature, les colonnes et planchers ne broncheront pas, et le propriétaire non seulement n’encourera aucun danger, mais, six jours après, il aura reconstruit sa maison.

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Harbi, A., Sebaï, A., Boughacha, M.S. (2019). A Glimpse at the History of Seismology in Algeria. In: Bendaoud, A., Hamimi, Z., Hamoudi, M., Djemai, S., Zoheir, B. (eds) The Geology of the Arab World---An Overview. Springer Geology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96794-3_9

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