Analysis of strain‐induced ground‐water fluctuations at Devils Hole, Nevada

Abstract

The pool in Devils Hole is a sensitive indicator of crustal strain and fluctuates in response to changes in atmospheric pressure, earth tides, earthquakes, large-scale tectonic activity and ground-water development. Short-term and cyclic water-level fluctuations caused by atmospheric pressure and earth tides were found to be on the order of millimeters to centimeters. The 1992 Landers/Little Skull Mountain earthquake sequence and the 1999 Hector Mine earthquake induced water-level offsets of greater than )12 and )3.6 cm, respectively. The results of a dislocation model used to compute volumetric strain for each earthquake indicates that the coseismic water-level offsets are consistent in magnitude and sense with poroelastic responses to earthquake-induced strain. Theoretical postseismic fluid-flow modeling indicates that the diffusivity of the system is on the order of 0.03 m 2 sec )1 , and identified areas of anomalous water-level fluctuations. Interpretation of model results suggests that while the persistent post-Landers rise in water-level can be attributed to deformation-induced channeling of fluid to the Devils Hole fault zone, the cause of the pre-Hector Mine water-level rise may be related to postseismic excess fluid pressures or preseismic strain accumulation.

Insights into water level response to seismic waves: A 24 year high‐fidelity record of global seismicity at Devils Hole

“…Two clusters of coseismic offset responses occur during the time periods of the 28 June 1992 M w 7.3 Landers earthquake and the 16 October 1999 M w 7.1 Hector Mine earthquake. These large, near-field responses have been shown to be the result of deformationinduced fluid flow from the static stresses associated with these earthquakes [Cutillo and Ge, 2006]. We interpret these responses as separate from the far-field coseismic offset response.…”

“…The hydroseismogram responses at Devils Hole exhibit no persistent change in water level as well as a characteristic frequency range that is consistent with theoretical predictions (Figure 3). Near-field coseismic offsets at Devils Hole have already been shown to be the result of static poroelastic deformation [Cutillo and Ge, 2006]. However, the observation of coseismic offset responses from far-field earthquakes demands an alternate mechanism to explain these water level responses.…”

“…The vertical extent and subsurface geometry of Devils Hole are poorly constrained; however, the cavern forms a generally planar, fault feature and extends to depths of at least 150 m [Riggs et al, 1994]. Previous research has shown that the water level in Devils Hole is sensitive to static stress changes from large earthquakes in the near-and intermediate-fields [Cutillo and Ge, 2006]. Coseismic offsets in the water level were shown to recover in periods from days to months.…”

Tide-factor anomalies from observations of well level in the Sichuan Province prior to the great Wenchuan earthquake of 2008

“…Such anomalies are, however, usually very complicated because of the effects of rainfall, atmosphere, solid tide and artificial interference (Kümpel, 1991;Matsumoto et al, 2003;Woith et al, 2011). Some researchers regard solid tide as contributing to noise in water level data and make corrections to it (Cutillo and Ge, 2006;Reoloffs et al, 2003). Several studies analyzed the relationship between tidal changes derived from well water levels and earthquakes and found that anomalies of tidal variations seemed to occur in the well levels prior to some quakes (Igarashi and Wakita, 1991;Zhu et al, 1997).…”

Estimating the extent of stress influence by using earthquake triggering groundwater level variations in Taiwan

“…The responses of groundwater to earthquakes have long been a topic of research interest (Roeloffs, 1988(Roeloffs, , 1996(Roeloffs, , 1998Roeloffs et al, 1989;Roeloffs and Quilty, 1997;Rojstaczer, 1987;Rojstaczer andWolf, 1992a, 1992b;Rojstaczer et al, 1995;King et al, 2000;Montgomery and Manga, 2003;Hsu and Tung, 2005;Cutillo and Ge, 2006;Manga and Wang, 2007;Lai et al, 2010). Groundwater responses may appear before an earthquake, acting as a precursor that starts a few minutes to a few days before the earthquake (Roeloffs, 1996;King et al, 2000;Manga and Wang, 2007;Wang and Manga, 2010).…”