Paleoseismological evidence is indispensable for the identification of large prehistoric earthquakes and the extension of the temporal coverage of historical and instrumental earthquake catalogues. In the geological record, diverse traces of past earthquakes are found. This study presents a database of potential primary and secondary evidence for seismic activity in the past 20,000 years in Switzerland. The database includes data from sedimentological, archaeological, speleological and geomorphological research. This unique dataset allows identifying periods during which the geologic record reveals enhanced occurrence of evidence that are further discussed as potentially earthquake-triggered. For the most recent 700 years, an increased occurrence of evidence features was found. This clustering is an effect of the historical earthquakes. Furthermore, periods with enhanced occurrence are identified at six phases during the past 20,000 years. Even though dating uncertainties for the geological record are large (e.g. ¹⁴C calibration range) and an unequivocal attribution of earthquakes as trigger mechanism for secondary evidence is not possible, the database reflects the natural-hazard potential of a region and represents valuable information for seismic hazard assessment. Furthermore, despite the uncertainty regarding the definition of the trigger mechanism, we propose that the database can be used to validate and improve earthquake-hazard models.

中文翻译：

---

瑞士潜在的古地震证据数据库

古地震学证据对于识别大的史前地震以及扩大历史和仪器地震目录的时空覆盖范围是必不可少的。在地质记录中，发现了过去地震的各种痕迹。这项研究提供了一个数据库，该数据库是瑞士过去2万年来地震活动的潜在主要和次要证据。该数据库包括来自沉积学，考古学，洞穴学和地貌学研究的数据。这个独特的数据集可以确定地质记录揭示出证据增加的时期，这些时期将进一步讨论为潜在的地震触发。在最近的700年中，发现证据特征的发生率增加了。这种聚类是历史地震的影响。此外，在过去的20,000年中，在六个阶段中确定了发生增加的时期。即使地质记录的年代不确定性很大（例如¹⁴ C标定范围）和明确的地震属性作为辅助证据的触发机制是不可能的，该数据库反映了一个地区的自然灾害潜力，并为地震灾害评估提供了有价值的信息。此外，尽管触发机制的定义尚不确定，但我们建议该数据库可用于验证和改进地震灾害模型。