On the relevancy of the combination of macroseismic and paleoseismic data

Earthquakes that occurred in the Baikal seismic region in 1725, 1742, 1769, and 1829 are studied on the basis of original macroseismic information. Due to the fact that their parameters were previously determined using the combination of macroseismic and paleoseismic data, the goal of our investigation is to verify how well the solutions agree with the macroseismic evidence. Careful examination of macroseismic data includes, first of all, the searching for original sources, which cannot be replaced by any other data types, for instance, paleoseismic information characterized by questionable reliability. The completeness of analysis is achieved when different components are inspected separately before mixing. In the case when unequivocal data interpretation is impossible, it is better to consider different alternative solutions characterized by relatively narrow error ranges. Variants can be weighted correspondingly (at least, evaluated qualitatively). Otherwise we have to deal with the so-called “average” solutions, often useless due to great determination errors. Magnitudes of all earthquakes estimated previously on the basis of macroseismic and paleoseismic data are not confirmed by the original macroseismic information, and revised magnitudes are essentially lower.