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PNSN > Catalogs and Data > Historic EQs of the PNW > 1995 Database of Historic Quakes in Cascadia |
Research supported by the U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior under USGS award number 1434-93-G-2323 The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors, and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either express or implied, of the U.S. Government.
The "Historic Seismicity Catalog and Macroseismic Accounts for Cascadia, 1793-1929" printed report was the 1994 Final Tech. Rept. for USGS Grant 1434-93-G-2323"
This is the September 19, 1995 version of the catalog, this information is
nearly identical to the information in file "readme.wri"
The database was created using ACCESS 2.0 in MS WINDOWS 3.1 on a 66 MHz 486DX PC with 8 MB RAM, and a 17 inch color monitor.
I suggest that you create a subdirectory on your PC; about 4 MB of space is needed. Copy all files to that subdirectory and then invoke the command:
pkunzip cascat.zip cascat.mdb
This should uncompress the database, which can then be opened in ACCESS.
1. CAUTION: If the database is viewed through the ACCESS "FORMS" it is protected against inadvertant changes. If ACCESS "TABLES" are viewed directly, they can be changed by the user.
2. The simplest way to view the database is to select ACCESS FORMS, and then double-click on PREFER, the form which allows viewing all of the information underlying any of the numbered events listed in the printed final report. See the description of the PREFER form further on in this document.
Alternatively, Table 1 was reformatted in MS EXCEL; and that file, called table1.xls is on the diskette and can be printed through EXCEL. Table 2 was reformatted on a UNIX system, and is included as a text file called table2.txt; printable through the WINDOWS WRITE utility, among others.
TABLES IN THE CASCADIA EARTHQUAKE CATALOG DATABASE
ACCESS divides objects into Table, Query, Form, Report, Macro, and Module catgories. Of these, I will discuss mainly Tables, Forms, and Reports. 'Tables' contain various types of data fields, and are used for data storage. 'Forms' allow convenient access to, and manipulation of, data from the Tables. 'Reports' allow printing of selected portions of data in Tables.
The Catalog relies on three ACCESS Tables: 1A-Scrapbook, where the original information is stored,1B-Tabulation, where that information is expressed in a more formatted way and linked to events, and table 2A-Preferred-Cardfile, where a comment for each event is stored, along with pointers to the 1B-Tabulation records where the preferred time, location, magnitude, etc. You may wish to view these tables in ACCESS design view. If you view the data in table format, beware, it is unprotected in this representation. On entering ACCESS, there is an option to open the database "Read-Only", and this may be prudent.
Additional tables 'Event Types', 'Magnitude Types', and 'Time Types' are printed in the USGS 1434-93-0001-G2323 Final Report as Tables A, B, and D. Table "Table 2 of Catalog" is printed as Table 2 of the Final Report. The ACCESS Report called 'Catalog' uses "Preferred1B_from Query to generate the catalog printed in the Final Report. The ACCESS Reports that generated Table 3 of the Final Report use ACCESS Tables "TestSN", "Newspaper_Sources", and "Non-Catalog/Report/Newspaper_Sources" ( Most reports also rely on ACCESS Queries.). Portions of the printed report can be reproduced using the ACCESS Reports provided, or by printing directly from the appropriate tables.
Two of the tables, "Keys_to_Catalogs" and "WPPSS" contain information of some interest. "Keys_to_Catalogs" contains reference lists and/or prefaces to some of the catalogs. "WPPSS" contains tables from and references to Washington Public Power Supply System "grey" literature developed in connection with the proposed development of nuclear power plants. In some cases, versions of the WPPSS tables have been included in the database in slightly altered format, but here they are all gathered together, and some records that could not be adequately expressed in the database are referenced.
FORMS IN THE CASCADIA EARTHQUAKE CATALOG DATABASE
The best way to view the data is through the three ACCESS Forms described below; TABULATE, COMPILE, and PREFER. These forms were used to tabulate the data, link up the tabulated entries by event, and select the preferred values for each event. The versions presented here, however, only allow viewing of the data, and do not permit alterations." Although the forms are listed here in the order that they are used when new data is being added to the database, the PREFER form is probably the most useful to use in conjuction with the printed final report.
The TABULATE Form shows the "Verbatim earthquake account" and other fields associated with Table '1A-Scrapbook' and also indicates how that information has been tabulated into one or more records in Table '1B-Tabulation. Fields from the Scrapbook are backed by light blue, and can be paged through using the ACCESS "Record" feature at the lowermost right. The ACCESS filtering operations, available on the toolbar, may also be useful in selecting accounts to view.
At the lower right, a grey subwindow contains the tabulated records from Table "1B-Tabulation' associated with the Scrapbook record in the "Verbatim earthquake account" window above. In many cases, an account mentions only one earthquake. However, if more than one earthquake is mentioned, the ACCESS "Record" feature at the lower left of the Tabulation subwindow will indicate this as (for example) "Record 1 of 4". In this case, the additional records can be viewed using the usual ACCESS syntax."
The COMPILE Form allows the tabulated entries to be gathered together by event. Entries from Table '1B-Tabulation' are sorted in date order, and can be assigned to numbered events. In the fully operational version, this is done by typing the event number into the 'event number' field at the left of each tabulated entry. A "new event" can be initiated by double-clicking in a blank 'event number' field, and an event will be removed from Table '2A-Preferred Cardfile" when all references to it (these are stored in Table '1B-Tabulation') are removed from the 'event number' field in the COMPILE Form.
Only a subset of the tabulated fields is shown in the COMPILE Form, in the interests of saving space. From left to right, the fields are:
At the far right of each row, a "Memo" button will bring up a subwindow for viewing the underlying Scrapbook records (from Table '1A-Scrapbook') for this tabulated entry. The main field is the Verbatim earthquake account (smem in 1A-Scrapbook), which is below the fields (left to right):
An interesting exercise would be to use the ACCESS filter to select and view Tabulated entries in COMPILE with the short source identifier (sid) equal to "REID1" or "REID2" which have no event number assigned (evno 'Is Null'). REID1 and REID2 are the short names for material from Harry Fielding Reid, often cited as a source by Townley and Allen. A considerable number of events that he mentioned have no other associated information, and should be individually researched. Let us know what you find - negative results as well as positive.
The PREFER form presents all of the information that has been linked to an event. The event number and event type (see Event Type table) are shown in light blue fields on a green background field at the top of the page. Navigating to a specific event can be accomplished by using the "Go To Event Number" at the far right, which uses the standard ACCESS "Find" subwindow, or by using the arrow keys to increment or decrement the event number.
The "Scrapbook Entries and Event Comment" button allows the "Event Comment" field of Table 2A-Preferred-Cardfile to be viewed side-by-side with all of the underlying Scrapbook entries (from Table 1A-Scrapbook) that have been associated with this event (through the 1B-Tabulation). This subwindow is modal, which means that no action external to this subwindow are allowed until after exiting from it. You must close the subwindow before you can view the next event. Within the subwindow are two areas; one light blue and one dark blue. The light blue area indicates information drawn from the Scrapbook. The largest field in the light blue area contains the verbatim text of the Scrapbook entry, while the surrounding fields are (clockwise from left):
Paging through the various scrapbook entries is accomplished by using the "Record" bar at the bottom of the subwindow in the usual ACESS fashion. The fully operational version allows editing of the Scrapbook fields from this subwindow.
In the dark blue field, outlined in red, are the Event Comment and Event Type fields, which are part of the 2A-Preferred-Cardifle Table. In the fully operational version, a preferred event type can be selected from the list, and the event comment can be edited.
Preferred values (known from pointers in the Table '2A-Preferred Cardfile' which point at records in Table '1B-Tabulation')are shown in the "Summary Information" fields stretching across the top of the gray area of the page. All of the tabulated time, location, intensity, magnitude, and felt area choices which have been linked to this event are presented in 5 tabular-format subwindows below the "Update Display" bar. The fullly operational version allows the user to select the preferred time by moving to the (for example) "Times Available" subwindow, and clicking on the preferred time. The "Update Display" bar can then be used to show the selected "Summary Information". The underlying action in the fully operational version is that clicking on the preferred value updates the Table '2A-Preferred-Cardfile', and clicking on the "Update display" bar re-queries the Table "1B-Tabulation" to display the preferred values."
Ruth Ludwin
University of Washingtion Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences
Box 351310
Seattle, WA 98195-1310
PHONE: (206) 543-4292 FAX: (206) 685-5788
email: ruth@ess.washington.edu
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UW Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences ..... . PNW EARTHQUAKES