Synonyms
Anthropogenic seismicity; Stimulated seismicity; Triggered seismicity
Definition
Induced seismicity is a general expression that includes all earthquake activity brought about by man-made perturbations of the effective shear stress existing on faults and fractures. This can arise by changing the acting stresses or the pore-fluid pressure. These perturbations can be caused by the impounding of water reservoirs, mining activity either underground or at the surface, high pressure injection of fluids for hydrothermal power generation or oil production, removal of underground fluids such as oil, gas, and water, and underground explosions (Simpson, 1986).
Induced seismicity
Strictly speaking, the expression “induced seismicity” is correctly used if the seismic activity causes a stress change comparable in magnitude to the ambient shear stress acting on a fault to cause slip (McGarr et al., 2002). These authors define “triggered seismicity” if the stress change is only a small...
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Bibliography
ICOLD (International Commission on Large Dams), 2008. Reservoir and seismicity: state of knowledge” bulletin (International Commission on Large Dams); Rough version of Bulletin 137, 50 p.
Kraft, T., Mai, P. M., Wiemer, S., Deichmann, N., Ripperger, J., Kästli, P., Bachmann, C., Fäh, D., Wössner, J., and Giardini, D., 2009. Enhanced geothermal systems: mitigating risk in urban areas. Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union, 90(32), 273.
McGarr, A., Simpson, D., and Seeber, L., 2002. Case histories of induced and triggered seismicity. In Lee, W., Kanamori, H., Jennings, P., and Kisslinger, C. (eds.), International Handbook of Earthquake and Engineering Seismology. New York: Academic, pp. 1253–1259.
Simpson, D. W., 1986. Triggered earthquakes. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 14, 21–42.
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Lamontagne, M. (2013). Induced Seismicity. In: Bobrowsky, P.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Natural Hazards. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4399-4_193
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4399-4_193
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