[1] The earthquake is mentioned by several Arab and Syriac chronicle writers, who claimed that it mainly affected the region of Persian Iraq.
An additional detail reported by a chronicle is that the Caspian Sea seemed to be in a state of convulsion at the time of the disaster.
It seems probable that the event also caused a "seismic sea wave" (tsunami), though this is not clearly indicated in the primary sources.
Robert Mallet (19th century) instead interpreted the sources as indicating the location of the earthquake in the Caspian Sea.
At least some of the primary sources locate the areas affected by the earthquake within the province of Jibal in the Abbasid Caliphate.