Atmospheric Precipitation and Anomalous Upper Mantle in Relation to Intraplate Seismicity in Norway

Abstract

Two enigmatic regions of high intraplate seismicity in Norway (Western Norway and the Nordland area) show a temporal correlation between the number of earthquakes within the upper crystalline crust and intensity of rain and snowmelt at the Earth's surface. This correlation is obvious in the Nordland area where detailed and reliable data on seismicity are available, whereas the correlation is weaker in Western Norway where detailed data on seismicity are missing. Moreover, these discrete zones of high seismic activity coincide spatially with prominent, low-velocity, and, most likely, thermally anomalous zones in the upper mantle. We propose that in addition to other causes, the high seismicity may be controlled by the anomalous upper mantle, along with topographically induced gravitational potential energy and crustal density variations. Precipitation-induced, seasonal increases in pore-fluid pressure within the fractured crystalline bedrock and changes in water loads may modulate the tectonically controlled seismicity.

Frictional energy patterns related to the temperature increases due to intraplate seismicity, southern Norway, 2000–2019 catalogue

“…as responsible mechanisms (Bannister et al, 1991;Kolstrup et al, 2015;Hejrani et al, 2017); and finally, a temporal relationship between precipitation and intra-crustal seismicity has also been proposed by Maystrenko et al, (2018Maystrenko et al, ( , 2020. Due to increased deployment of seismic stations in Norway (see http://seismo.geo.uib.no/nnsn/#/), it is possible to link the above-mentioned stress-generating mechanisms with the regional stress directions through the study of focal mechanisms (Fjeldskaar et al, 2000).…”

Influence of Rock Watering on Post-Seismic Activity: A Study on the Khibiny Massif

“…Presently, the issue of the influence of watering of the rock on seismicity can be considered well-studied. There are experimental [Board et al, 1992;Kartseva et al, 2022] and field data [Hainzl et al, 2006[Hainzl et al, , 2013Heinicke et al, 2017;Maystrenko et al, 2020;Smirnov et al, 2022;Talwani, 1997;Vorobieva et al, 2020;Zoback and Harjes, 1997] on the influence of moisture content of the geologic material on the parameters of the seismic regime for natural (tectonic) and induced seismicity. The key result of these studies is the increase in seismicity during elevation of pore fluid pressure and the "lubrication" effect due to the increase in the amount of liquid penetrating into the medium caused either by the changes in the reservoir level [Smirnov et al, 2022;Talwani, 1997], or by heavy rainfalls [Hainzl et al, 2006[Hainzl et al, , 2013Heinicke et al, 2017;Maystrenko et al, 2020], or by snowmelt in spring [Zhukova et al, 2023], or by direct liquid injection for extraction of hydrocarbons [Vorobieva et al, 2020;Zoback and Harjes, 1997].…”