Mechanism of water level changes during earthquakes: Near field versus intermediate field

Wang, Chi‐Yuen; Chia, Yeeping

doi:10.1029/2008gl034227

Cited by 109 publications

(126 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Under undrained conditions, pore pressure is expected to increase during seismic shaking, except for sites exposed to very strong shaking in the vicinity of the earthquake (see fig. 3b of Wang & Chia 2008). Contrary, the response of unconsolidated sedimentary aquifers (sand, gravel) to the Tohoku event was random, that is no water level changes, oscillations, step-like rises, as well as step-like falls were observed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…In general, there are two types of co-and post-seismic responses recorded in groundwater levels: transient dynamic oscillations (Blanchard & Byerly 1935;Cooper et al 1965;Liu et al 1989;Kitagawa et al 2011) and sustained changes. The latter type includes abrupt step-like rises or falls (Wakita 1975;Quilty & Roeloffs 1997), and sustained gradual rises or falls for several days or weeks (Matsumoto 1992;Roeloffs 1998;Brodsky et al 2003;Wang & Chia 2008).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Groundwater level changes induced by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in China mainland

Yan

Woith²,

Wang³

2014

Geophysical Journal International

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

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confidence: 99%

Groundwater level changes induced by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in China mainland

Yan

Woith²,

Wang³

2014

Geophysical Journal International

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“…As noted by many authors (e.g., Mogi et al 1989;Roeloffs 1998;King et al 1999;Manga & Wang 2007;Wang & Chia 2008), the distribution of a variety of hydrologic responses may be scaled by the earthquake magnitude M and distance r from the earthquake source. These parameters, i.e., r and M, are used to characterize the occurrences of hydrologic responses because the majority of Fig.…”

Section: Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrologic Responses to Earthquakes and a General Metric

Wang¹,

Manga²

2010

Frontiers in Geofluids

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Hydrologic responses to earthquakes, including liquefaction, changes in stream and spring discharge, changes in the properties of groundwater such as geochemistry, temperature and turbidity, changes in the water level in wells, and the eruption of mud volcanoes, have been documented for thousands of years. Except for some water-level changes in the near field which can be explained by poroelastic responses to static stress changes, most hydrologic responses, both within and beyond the near field, can only be explained by the dynamic responses associated with seismic waves. For these responses, the seismic energy density e may be used as a general metric to relate and compare the various hydrologic responses. We show that liquefaction, eruption of mud volcanoes and increases in streamflow are bounded by e $ 10 )1 J m )3 ; temperature changes in hot springs are bounded by e $ 10 )2 J m )3 ; most sustained groundwater changes are bounded by e $ 10 )3 J m )3 ; geysers and triggered seismicity may respond to seismic energy density as small as 10 )3 and 10 )4 J m )3 , respectively. Comparing the threshold energy densities with published laboratory measurements, we show that undrained consolidation induced by dynamic stresses can explain liquefaction only in the near field, but not beyond the near field. We propose that in the intermediate field and far field, most responses are triggered by changes in permeability that in turn are a response to the cyclic deformation and oscillatory fluid flow. Published laboratory measurements confirm that changes in flow and time-varying stresses can change permeability, inducing both increases and decreases. Field measurements in wells also indicate that permeability can be changed by earthquakes in the intermediate field and far field. Further work, in particular field monitoring and measurements, are needed to assess the generality of permeability changes in explaining far-field hydrologic responses to earthquakes.

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“…Abrupt changes in well water levels in the nearfield (within 1-2 fault lengths) are often explained by the static poroelastic strain of aquifers caused by earthquakes (Akita and Matsumoto, 2004;Matsumoto and Roeloffs, 2003;Roeloffs and Bredehoeft, 1985;Shi et al, 2012;Shibata et al, 2010;Wakita, 1975;Wang and Chia, 2008;Zhang and Huang, 2011). In the intermediate and farfield (many fault lengths), the static poroelastic strains from displacement during earthquakes are small and can fail to explain the sign of the sustained variations in water levels .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tidal response variation and recovery following the Wenchuan earthquake from water level data of multiple wells in the nearfield

Lai

Xue

et al. 2014

Tectonophysics

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An important dataset to emerge from the Wenchuan earthquake Fault Scientific Drilling project is direct measurement of the permeability evolution of a fault zone. In order to provide context for this new observation, we examined the evolution of tidal responses in the nearfield region (within~1.5 fault lengths) at the time of the mainshock. Previous work has shown that seismic waves can increase permeability in the farfield, but their effects in the nearfield are more difficult to discern. Close to an earthquake, hydrogeological responses are generally a combination of static and dynamic stresses. In this work, we examine the well water level data in the region of the large M w 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake and use the phase shift of tidal responses as a proxy for the permeability variations over time. We then compare the results with the coseismic water level pattern in order to separate out the dynamic and static effects. The coseismic water level pattern for observed steps coincident with the Wenchuan mainshock mainly tracks the expected static stress field. However, most of the wells that have resolvable tidal responses show permeability enhancement after this large earthquake regardless of whether the coseismic response for the well water level is increasing or decreasing, indicating permeability enhancement is a distinct process from static poroelastic strain.

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Mechanism of water level changes during earthquakes: Near field versus intermediate field

Cited by 109 publications

References 22 publications

Groundwater level changes induced by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in China mainland

Groundwater level changes induced by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in China mainland

Hydrologic Responses to Earthquakes and a General Metric

Tidal response variation and recovery following the Wenchuan earthquake from water level data of multiple wells in the nearfield

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