The 1905 Geiyo Earthquake (M=7.3) Recorded by the Omori Seismometers and the Digitization of the Records

The Geiyo earthquake occurred on June 2 in 1905 in the western Seto Inland Sea between the Honshu and Shikoku Islands, Japan. The seismograms of the earthquake obtained at the stations of Central Meteorological Observatory were newly found at Earthquake Research Institute of the University of Tokyo. They are recorded by the Omori seismometers and tromometers, which are superior to former seismometers with respect to continuous recording. For the estimation of the magnitude and source mechanism from the seismograms, we digitize 3 records, which are Hongo EW component, Hitotsubashi EW component and Tokyo tromometer. We have to know the response of the Omori seismometer to estimate the ground motion during the earthquake. In order to know the frequency characteristics of the seismometers, we calculate their Fourier amplitude spectra. The spectra of the Hongo EW component and Hitotsubashi EW component show clear peaks which may be considered as the natural periods of the seismometers. The natural periods of Hongo EW component and Hitotsubashi EW component are about 60s and 25s, respectively. The damping constant estimated from the free oscillation record of Omori seismometer at Ishinomaki observatory is less than 0.01, and the friction is 1.7mm.