1521
Technical Committee 203 /
Comité technique 203
3 STUDY AREA
3.1
City of Győr
Győr is the most important city of northwest Hungary often
referred to as the City of Associations or Meetings. The city is
the sixth largest in Hungary, and it is the capital of Győr-
Moson-Sopron county and Western Transdanubia region, an
important economic, industrial, ecclesiastic, educational,
cultural and sports centre. The dynamically developing city lies
halfway between Budapest and Vienna, on one of the important
roads of Central Europe with an excellent accessibility.
Móri
Figure 3. City of Győr, main roads and rivers crossing (Google map).
Győr is also referred to as the City of Waters as it lies at the
bank of river Rába, at the confluence of the Moson-Danube, the
Rába and the Rábca not far away from the main channel of the
Danube and it is rich in thermal water as well. Győr is
Hungary's second richest town in historic buildings outside
Budapest. Characteristic corner-balconies and narrow lanes,
churches, museums are all reminders of a historic past, mainly
situated in the centre of the town.
From a geological point of view Győr lies in the eastern
part of Little Hungarian Plain. The Little Hungarian Plain is a
deflational lowland of ca. 7700 km
2
on the western part of the
Carpathian Basin System. Its medium altitude is 125 m a.s.l., a
little higher than that of the Great Hungarian Plain. The river
Danube divides into a southern and a northern part.
The southern marginal hills consist of gently undulating
hilly country, dissected by a deep valley. They are composed of
sandstones, gravel and clay. The present morphology was
formed during the Quaternary period by fluvial erosion, tectonic
movements and deflation processes. The northern margin of the
Little Plain consists of similarly hilly country dominated by
thick loess cover. The rivers entering the Little Plain flow
eastward.
The Little Hungarian Plain is a structural basin, subsided
along step faults and the basement can be found beneath thick
basin sediments. Two large tectonic lineaments in the basement
determine the geological structure.
3.2
Seismicity of Győr
The tectonics of the Carpathian basin is determined by the
counterclockwise rotation of the Adria microplate and the north-
northeast directed movement originating from the rotation. The
seismicity of the area is moderate. Earthquakes causing light
damages occur every 15–20 years, while stronger, more
damaging 5.5–6 magnitude quakes happen about every 40–50
years.
The distribution of earthquakes is diffuse; however, there are
certain areas where the occurrence is higher. For example at the
surroundings of Komárom-Mór-Berhida, known as Móri-trench,
where the largest earthquake of Hungary occurred in the city of
Komárom in 1763 with an estimated magnitude of 6.1. This is
shown also in the seismic hazard map of Hungary computed for
475 years return period. PGA values were computed for
bedrock and are expressed in m/s
2
.
Figure 4. Seismic hazard map of Hungary indicated Móri-trench and
Győr (Georisk).
Aerial distance between Győr and Móri-trench is 60 km.
Historic data show that major earthquakes of this area had
significant effect on buildings in Győr. The importance of the
city as a regional centre, the number of inhabitants and the
closeness to the above-mentioned fault emphasizes the necessity
of earthquake risk analysis of this town.
The other significant fault lies beneath the river Rába and
meets the fault beneath river Mosoni-Duna at Győr. Recorded
earthquakes with epicenter at Győr mainly occur due to these
faults.
Table 2. Historical earthquakes with epicenter at Győr and
pproximately 8 km depth
a
Date
Magnitude
Maximum intensity
1700.02.11
3.5
5.0
1754.10.21
3.5
5.0
1758.08.07
3.2
4.5
1763.08.04
2.2
3.0
1763.08.09
3.2
4.5
1765.02.05
2.9
4.0
1765.02.21
2.9
4.0
1768.01.05
3.9
5.5
1768.09.20
2.2
3.0
1768.10.29
2.2
3.0
1779.04.02
2.9
4.0
1779.04.02
2.9
4.0
1781.10.07
2.9
4.0
1786.02.29
2.9
4.0
1850.10.07
4.9
7.0
1850.10.29
3.5
5.0
1860.04.13
2.2
3.0
1914.02.04
2.9
4.0
1921.05.04
3.5
5.0
1990.08.22
2.9
4.0
1993.07.12
2.8
3.5
3.3
Examined zones and buildings
Twenty six selected zones were examined more closely. The
zones differ from each other not only in location, but also in
types and ages of buildings. Building data were gathered with
the help of a questionnaire and the screening evaluation of
trained staff. Data concerning the soil types and layers were
collected in parallel.
