Earthquakes?

[Maester of Valyria]

We know that there were earthquakes in the Doom of Valyria, as well as in Yi Ti:

Quote

It was written that on the day of Doom every hill for five hundred miles had split asunder to fill the air with ash and smoke and fire, blazes so hot and hungry that even the dragons in the sky were engulfed and consumed. Great rents had opened in the earth, swallowing palaces, temples, entire towns. Lakes boiled or turned to acid, mountains burst, fiery fountains spewed molten rock a thousand feet into the air, red clouds rained down dragonglass and the black blood of demons, and to the north the ground splintered and collapsed and fell in on itself and an angry sea came rushing in.

 

Quote

To tell the tale of Yi Ti is far beyond our scope here, comprising as it does hundreds of emperors and myriad wars and conquests and rebellions. Let it suffice to say that the Golden Empire has known golden ages and dark ages, that it has waxed and waned and waxed again throughout the centuries, that it has weathered floods and droughts and sandstorms and quaking of the earth so violent as to swallow entire cities, that thousands of heroes and cravens and concubines and wizards and scholars have passed across the pages of its histories.

 

Do we know of any other areas in the Known World that suffer from earthquakes, or of any other instances (confirmed, mythical or speculative) of earthquakes?

I'm currently researching for a topic on tectonic activity, but the above quotes are the only hard evidence of earthquakes that I've been able to find. Thanks for any help!

 

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

I think this quote might be referring to earthquakes

Aye, and long before them came the Horned Lord and the brother kings Gendel and Gorne, and in ancient days Joramun, who blew the Horn of Winter and woke giants from the earth.

[Lord Vance II]

58 minutes ago, Rhaenys_Targaryen said:

I think this quote might be referring to earthquakes

Most likely. I think the problem is they don't seem to have a word for Earthquakes....especially ones that don't "rend the earth" (tremors). I know from experience, if you feel a minor tremor you kind of just look around and say "wtf was that?"

Though in a world made of stone, it would probably be more apparent. 

Looking at geography...I think there's a fault line somewhere in the Bite. It don't think the North was always a part of continental Westeros. It's possible there's a subduction zone somewhere in the Neck...and the Mountains of the Moon were caused by it (think of the North as India and the Mountains of the Moon as the Himalayas). But the movement could be mostly over and not cause earthquakes in recent memory. 

The Bone Mountains also kind of scream tectonic activity. 

But I'm about as far from a geologist as can be, so I could be dead wrong. Interesting idea though. 

[Philokles]

24 minutes ago, Lord Vance II said:

Most likely. I think the problem is they don't seem to have a word for Earthquakes....especially ones that don't "rend the earth" (tremors). I know from experience, if you feel a minor tremor you kind of just look around and say "wtf was that?"

Tyrion explicitly refers to an earthquake at some point. I would find the quote but A Search of Ice and Fire isn't working for me currently.

[Ser Leftwich]

28 minutes ago, Horse of Kent said:

Tyrion explicitly refers to an earthquake at some point. I would find the quote but A Search of Ice and Fire isn't working for me currently.

" Their master Yezzan laughed loudest and longest whenever one of his dwarfs suffered a fall or took a blow, his whole vast body shaking like suet in an earthquake; his guests waited to see how Yurkhaz no Yunzak responded before joining in." - ADwD p. 629 (Tyrion 10)

[Maester of Valyria]

16 hours ago, Rhaenys_Targaryen said:

I think this quote might be referring to earthquakes

Aye, and long before them came the Horned Lord and the brother kings Gendel and Gorne, and in ancient days Joramun, who blew the Horn of Winter and woke giants from the earth.

Thanks, that's useful! There's a huge amount of tectonic activity in the North if you know how to look for it. Thank you very much

15 hours ago, Lord Vance II said:

Most likely. I think the problem is they don't seem to have a word for Earthquakes....especially ones that don't "rend the earth" (tremors). I know from experience, if you feel a minor tremor you kind of just look around and say "wtf was that?"

Though in a world made of stone, it would probably be more apparent. 

Looking at geography...I think there's a fault line somewhere in the Bite. It don't think the North was always a part of continental Westeros. It's possible there's a subduction zone somewhere in the Neck...and the Mountains of the Moon were caused by it (think of the North as India and the Mountains of the Moon as the Himalayas). But the movement could be mostly over and not cause earthquakes in recent memory. 

The Bone Mountains also kind of scream tectonic activity. 

But I'm about as far from a geologist as can be, so I could be dead wrong. Interesting idea though. 

That is a bit of a problem, it makes it much harder just to check the Wiki or Search.

As for your suggestions, I had considered the possibility of a subduction zone nearish the Neck, and I'm planning to research the possibility a bit more thoroughly when I'm done with the earthquakes. The Bone Mountains are almost certainly at a collision plate boundary, much like the Eurasian and Indo-Australian plates today at the Himalayas.

[PrettyPig]

1 hour ago, Maester of Valyria said:

As for your suggestions, I had considered the possibility of a subduction zone nearish the Neck, and I'm planning to research the possibility a bit more thoroughly when I'm done with the earthquakes.

I think there's more than that....if you look closely at the (poorly) described geologic activity and some of the natural formations in the series on both continents, there's a good chance that we have an actual "ring of fire" in play.  

I've been working on the volcanic evidence elsewhere and tying that in with some other symbolism in the novels - I know lots of people are looking to the sky for answers but, like you, I think we should be looking underground.

 

[Blackfyre Bastard]

If the Arm of Dorne "broke" would it have been like a South America-Africa drifting apart event (with the Narrow Sea akin to a young Atlantic Ocean) or more like Beringia sinking event?

To me the Bone Mountains don't look like a plate collision, they are more like the Urals. They rose in a distant past and now are dormant. You know what does look like an Indian sub-continent collision with a continent? The Shadow Mountains.

[Maester of Valyria]

On 08/09/2016 at 4:08 PM, PrettyPig said:

I think there's more than that....if you look closely at the (poorly) described geologic activity and some of the natural formations in the series on both continents, there's a good chance that we have an actual "ring of fire" in play.  

I've been working on the volcanic evidence elsewhere and tying that in with some other symbolism in the novels - I know lots of people are looking to the sky for answers but, like you, I think we should be looking underground.

 

Interesting...let's see, we have Dragonstone & Driftmark, Massey's Hook, Tarth, possibly the Stepstones (highly debatable), ...I don't think Lys, the hills of the Braavosian Coastline, and the lagoon of Braavos itself. That, and the fairly obvious plate boundary between that part of Westeros and Essos. I'm not sure if I buy a Ring of Fire in the Narrow Sea (Jade Sea on the other hand...) but I do think that volcanic forces played a major role in the formation of the landscape we know today, millions of years ago.

Agreed: I often think that the underground is ignored by many theories. Which is sad, because it's so fascinating!

 

On 08/09/2016 at 4:54 PM, Blackfyre Bastard said:

If the Arm of Dorne "broke" would it have been like a South America-Africa drifting apart event (with the Narrow Sea akin to a young Atlantic Ocean) or more like Beringia sinking event?

To me the Bone Mountains don't look like a plate collision, they are more like the Urals. They rose in a distant past and now are dormant. You know what does look like an Indian sub-continent collision with a continent? The Shadow Mountains.

Given that the Breaking occured during the course of human civilisation (and indeed within historical memory) almost certainly a sinking event. However what form this sinking took is open for debate; I believe there was a relatively rapid rise in sea level that covered all but the peaks of the Arm (which are now the Stepstones).

The Urals were a plate collision between the primeval supercontinent Laurussia and the continent Kazakhstania. I believe that the best explanation of the Bone Mountains is a plate collision between Eastern and Western Essos.

I think if anything the Shadow Mountains are a result of a divergent plate boundary between the Shadowlands and Ulthos, given the seeming congruency of their coastlines. However our knowledge of the topography of both these regions is incomplete, and we know precious little about either of them, so it is definitely still up for debate. You can make an equally valid argument for the Ulthos plate being subducted under the Eastern Essos plate, giving rise to the mountains of the Shadowlands and possibly the Morn.

However I think it is impossible to say for sure given how little we know about the area. If you have a different take I'd love to hear it!

[Blackfyre Bastard]

5 hours ago, Maester of Valyria said:

 

<snip>

The Urals were a plate collision between the primeval supercontinent Laurussia and the continent Kazakhstania. I believe that the best explanation of the Bone Mountains is a plate collision between Eastern and Western Essos.

I think if anything the Shadow Mountains are a result of a divergent plate boundary between the Shadowlands and Ulthos, given the seeming congruency of their coastlines. However our knowledge of the topography of both these regions is incomplete, and we know precious little about either of them, so it is definitely still up for debate. You can make an equally valid argument for the Ulthos plate being subducted under the Eastern Essos plate, giving rise to the mountains of the Shadowlands and possibly the Morn.

However I think it is impossible to say for sure given how little we know about the area. If you have a different take I'd love to hear it!

I'm sorry I didn't make myself clear. I didn't mean that the Urals didn't form from plate collision, but that happened around 300 Mya and then the plates fused together and tectonic activity ceased in the Urals around 90 Mya.

I meant that the Bones don't look like active plate collision but, like the Urals, are now inactive and not rising anymore, and the whole of Essos is one big plate.

I think that if the Shadowlands and Ulthos are diverging, then the Shadowlands could be on a small plate that's crashing (and being crushed) against the Essos plate originating all those mountains in such a big area.

Looking at the map, I see a few pieces that fit together, like the Disputed Lands and the Sea of Dorne, the Sea of Myrth and Cape Wrath, and Shipbreaker Bay and the piece of land north of the Sea of Myrth, which would give more evidence of a divergent boundary between a South Westeros plate and Essos.

[Maester of Valyria]

12 hours ago, Blackfyre Bastard said:

I'm sorry I didn't make myself clear. I didn't mean that the Urals didn't form from plate collision, but that happened around 300 Mya and then the plates fused together and tectonic activity ceased in the Urals around 90 Mya.

I meant that the Bones don't look like active plate collision but, like the Urals, are now inactive and not rising anymore, and the whole of Essos is one big plate.

I see what you mean. Yes that does make a fair amount of sense, as I think it's clear that the Bones formed at a collision boundary. However I'm not sure that there's enough evidence to discount the plate collision not still being active, although I very much doubt it'll make any difference to the story.

12 hours ago, Blackfyre Bastard said:

I think that if the Shadowlands and Ulthos are diverging, then the Shadowlands could be on a small plate that's crashing (and being crushed) against the Essos plate originating all those mountains in such a big area.

I was thinking somewhat along these lines, and I think that this explanation would fit in very nicely with the geographical evidence. Unfortunately, once again we cannot know for sure as we are dealing with two regions about which we know barely anything, in the corner of the map.