Macroseismic Study of Ruins in the Ancient Settlement of Khussar-Khintsag (Gizeldon River Valley, North Ossetia)

Traces of at least two strong earthquakes have been identified in the ruins of the village of Khussar-Khintsag. The source of the first one reached the surface there. It is represented by a sinistral shift with a systematic horizontal displacement of the wall by 30–40 cm. After that, the walls were added with the alignment of deformed structures. The event is conventionally dated February 23, 1785. Information on it can be found in periodicals and archival materials, and the source is linked to the area in question with a high degree of uncertainty. Judging by the deformations of the youngest funerary buildings, the second earthquake most likely occurred in the late 19th–early 20th centuries. The intensity of seismic oscillations during this earthquake reached 7–8, and, for towers, 8–9 due to the skyscraper effect.