Early earthquakes in the Kozani Area, northern Greece

A cursory examination of the as yet incomplete, crudely known and not easily quantifiable seismic history of northern Greece suggests an episodic seismic activity of medium magnitude events, similar to that of other parts in the Balkans, and a lack of any evidence in the historical records of large earthquakes in the region. This is consistent with the lack of continuity of faults in Central Greece, with few segments being demonstrably continuous for longer than about 20 to 25 km. My examination of primary sources also shows that, for the period investigated, it is not possible to assign reliably location and magnitude to historical earthquakes in this region. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.