Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Nitin Sharma, Vincenzo Convertito, Raffaella De Matteis, Paolo Capuano
Summary: This study aims to develop ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs) specifically for induced earthquakes in the St. Gallen geothermal area, Switzerland. The data analysis includes 343 earthquakes, and GMPEs are inferred using a two-phase approach. The comparison with GMPEs from other regions highlights the importance of using region-specific GMPEs for accurate assessment of induced seismic hazards.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICS AND ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Jin-Han Ree, Kwang-Hee Kim, Hobin Lim, Wooseok Seo, Sungshil Kim, Xiangyi An, YoungHee Kim
Summary: A commission of the Korean government investigated the 2017 Mw 5.5 Pohang earthquake and found that seismic activity was triggered by fluid injection from the nearby enhanced geothermal system. The aftershock sequence followed Omori's law, with a significant increase in stress around the SS4 segment corresponding to the M-L 4.6 event. Analysis suggests that all rupture planes, except for SS4, are optimally oriented for reactivation, highlighting the potential risk associated with fluid injection into this fault.
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
E. Warren-Smith, J. Townend, C. J. Chamberlain, C. Boulton, K. Michailos
Summary: Paleoseismic evidence suggests that key section boundaries conditionally inhibit rupture. Utilizing data from a seismometer network, this study examines the effects of material and structural heterogeneities on rupture behavior. The results highlight the importance of considering a range of factors when evaluating controls on rupture segmentation.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SOLID EARTH
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Rui Feng, Haoran Luo, Zhaowei Chen, Fengshou Zhang
Summary: By analyzing a refracturing well in the Sichuan Basin, it was found that fault reactivation can cause casing deformation and trigger high-magnitude microseismic events. The study also established a positive relationship between b-value and instantaneous shut-in pressure (ISIP), where lower b-value represents lower ISIP. This relationship has important implications for hydraulic fracturing, microseismicity, and fault reactivation.
GEOMECHANICS AND GEOPHYSICS FOR GEO-ENERGY AND GEO-RESOURCES
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Ya Sun, Shilin Deng, Jiwen Huang
Summary: The study conducted three-dimensional P-wave velocity structure and seismic relocation based on seismic observations, revealing that the large-scale faulting and earthquake activities in Yunnan are associated with the collision of India and Eurasia. The research found extensive low-velocity anomalies in the middle and lower crust around the south Chuan-Dian Block, Xiaojiang fault, and the Lijiang-Xiaojinhe fault, while a notable high-speed anomaly was detected in the Emeishan large igneous province. The results suggest that the Yangbi earthquake could be attributed to the intrusion of low-viscosity material along the Weixi-Qiaohou fault.
FRONTIERS IN EARTH SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Reinoud Sleeman, Elske de Zeeuw-van Dalfsen
Summary: The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) has deployed the NA seismic network in the Caribbean Netherlands to monitor local seismicity and contribute data to regional earthquake and tsunami warning systems. The network consists of 11 broadband seismometers that record data in real time at KNMI. From January 2017 to April 2022, 241 earthquakes within 150 km of the network's center were detected and located, with magnitudes ranging from 0.4 to 6. The network is important for studying subduction and volcanic processes in the Lesser Antilles arc.
BULLETIN OF THE SEISMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Kun Shan, Yanjun Zhang, Yanhao Zheng, Yuxiang Cheng, Yunxing Yang
Summary: The study found that increasing injection rate leads to increased fracture pressure, prefabricated fault rock has higher acoustic emission energy than intact rock during hydraulic fracturing, and shear fractures account for a larger proportion in prefabricated fault rock samples.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Vincenzo Convertito, Hossein Ebrahimian, Ortensia Amoroso, Fatemeh Jalayer, Raffaella De Matteis, Paolo Capuano
Summary: Reliable seismic hazard analyses are crucial in mitigating seismic risk, especially when dealing with induced seismicity that requires modification of the standard PSHA. Modifying the standard PSHA to calculate time-dependent seismic hazard can predict ground motion effectively, supporting project managers in making decisions.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
V. Simon, T. Kraft, T. Diehl, T. Tormann
Summary: The initiation of earthquakes remains a debated topic in earthquake science, with a gap between laboratory studies and real earthquake observations. The study shows that rupture nucleation phenomena observed on the lab scale can also be imaged on the microearthquake-scale, improving the quality of seismicity patterns and immediate foreshock phenomena. This approach may help bridge the observational gap between laboratory and field studies to enhance understanding of earthquake initiation mechanisms in the future.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Eric Beauce, Robert D. van der Hilst, Michel Campillo
Summary: This study used data from the Dense Array for North Anatolia (DANA) seismic network in 2012 to build a new catalog of microseismicity and analyzed its statistical properties. The study found that microseismicity mainly occurs off the main fault, with the most active regions being the Lake Sapanca step-over and near the Akyazi fault. Based on previous research, these microseismic activities are believed to be driven by residual stresses from the Izmit earthquake.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SOLID EARTH
(2022)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Kathryn Materna, Andrew Barbour, Junle Jiang, Mariana Eneva
Summary: The North Brawley Geothermal Field in Southern California provides a case study for understanding seismic hazards associated with fluid injection and geothermal energy extraction. This study analyzes ground deformation before, during, and after the 2012 earthquake swarm in the area using geodetic techniques. The results show a significant amount of pre-swarm aseismic slip and highlight the dominance of poroelastic deformation after the swarm. It suggests a cessation of fault-related slip in the North Brawley region after the 2012 earthquake swarm.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SOLID EARTH
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Frederick Massin, John Clinton, Maren Boese
Summary: The Swiss Seismological Service (SED) at ETH has developed methods and open-source software for Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) using SeisComP, with implementations of the Virtual Seismologist (VS) and Finite-Fault Rupture Detector (FinDer) algorithms. The system's performance in Switzerland has been shown to be comparable to operational EEW systems around the world, with rapid alerts and redundancy provided by operating two independent algorithms.
FRONTIERS IN EARTH SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Shuiping Li, Xin Wang, Tingye Tao, Yongchao Zhu, Xiaochuan Qu, Zhenxuan Li, Jianwei Huang, Shunyue Song
Summary: On February 6, 2023, devastating earthquakes with magnitudes of Mw 7.8 and Mw 7.6 struck southeastern Turkey near the border of Syria. These earthquakes were the strongest in Turkey in the past 80 years and caused significant loss of life and property. Through the analysis of satellite images and GPS data, the fault geometry and coseismic slip distribution of the earthquake sequence were determined. The results show left-lateral strike slips on the East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ) and the Surgu fault (SF) with a maximum slip of about 10m, and significant surface ruptures were identified.
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
J. McBeck, Y. Ben-Zion, F. Renard
Summary: This study employs discrete element method simulations to investigate the behavior of parallel faults under different conditions and uses machine learning models to predict the timing of fault reactivation and macroscopic failure. The results demonstrate the significance of strain and velocity components in monitoring crustal strike-slip systems, particularly in relation to the distance from preexisting faults.
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Danilo Zeppilli, Amade Pouya, Cheng Zhu, Xiang-Chao Shi, Hao Xu
Summary: The instability of faults due to subsurface wastewater injection is controlled by multiple parameters. A hydro-mechanical coupled finite element model was developed to study the correlation between injection activities and fault instability. The model can simulate the evolution of pore pressure, geomechanical stress field, and fault behaviors, providing new insights into induced earthquakes and emphasizing the importance of accounting for fluid injection activities to minimize fault reactivation and slip.
GEOMECHANICS AND GEOPHYSICS FOR GEO-ENERGY AND GEO-RESOURCES
(2021)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
E. D. Kaestle, I Molinari, L. Boschi, E. Kissling
Summary: Ambient-noise records from the AlpArray network are used to measure Rayleigh wave phase velocities between a large number of station pairs, obtaining azimuthally anisotropic phase-velocity maps. Bias in the psi(2) anisotropy is studied through synthetic tests, revealing errors related to interference and sparse sampling. The result highlights robust anisotropic structures in different regions of the Alps, affected by velocity heterogeneities and depth variations.
GEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
M. Tesch, J. Stampa, T. Meier, E. Kissling, G. Hetenyi, W. Friederich, M. Weber, B. Heit
Summary: The AlpArray experiment and the Swath-D deployment in Italy allow for detailed imaging of seismic wave-fields in the Alpine region, showing multi-reflected body waves and high spatio-temporal variability. The dense station distributions provide recordings with high lateral resolution, showcasing shorter period body and surface wave features. The acquired datasets reveal the complexity of seismic wave-fields and require appropriate quantitative methods for exploration.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Federica Lanza, Tobias Diehl, Nicholas Deichmann, Toni Kraft, Christophe Nussbaum, Senecio Schefer, Stefan Wiemer
Summary: The interpretation of seismotectonic processes in the uppermost layers of the Earth's crust is challenging due to uncertainties in hypocenter locations and focal mechanisms of shallow seismicity. A study on the Saint-Ursanne seismic sequence in 2000 suggests that it is likely related to a backthrust fault within the sedimentary cover. These findings shed new light on the seismotectonic processes of the Jura fold-and-thrust belt in northern Switzerland.
SWISS JOURNAL OF GEOSCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Jannes Munchmeyer, Jack Woollam, Andreas Rietbrock, Frederik Tilmann, Dietrich Lange, Thomas Bornstein, Tobias Diehl, Carlo Giunchi, Florian Haslinger, Dario Jozinovic, Alberto Michelini, Joachim Saul, Hugo Soto
Summary: Deep learning models, such as EQTransformer, GPD, and PhaseNet, have shown the best performance in seismic event detection and phase picking. The study also reveals that models can be effectively transferred across regions with similar distances. The results and trained models are made accessible to end-users through the SeisBench framework for easy application.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SOLID EARTH
(2022)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Maren Bose, Athanasios N. Papadopoulos, Laurentiu Danciu, John Francis Clinton, Stefan Wiemer
Summary: The goal of earthquake early warning (EEW) is to issue an alert before the damaging seismic waves of an earthquake hit. This study develops a framework to evaluate EEW performance and proposes a genetic algorithm approach to optimize a sensor network for enhanced EEW performance. The results, applied to Switzerland, show that the current seismic network can provide significant warning times for most damaging earthquakes, and additional stations can further increase these warning times.
BULLETIN OF THE SEISMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Melchior Grab, Antonio P. Rinaldi, Quinn C. Wenning, Sebastian Hellmann, Clement Roques, Anne C. Obermann, Hansruedi Maurer, Domenico Giardini, Stefan Wiemer, Christophe Nussbaum, Alba Zappone
Summary: This study conducted an injection experiment in a faulted caprock analog and monitored the integrity of the caprock using seismic techniques. The results showed that seismic velocity monitoring can detect rock deformation caused by injection, which may not be sensed by microseismic monitoring. This highlights the importance of seismic velocity monitoring as a complement to the monitoring system.
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Peidong Shi, Francesco Grigoli, Federica Lanza, Gregory C. Beroza, Luca Scarabello, Stefan Wiemer
Summary: Robust automatic event detection and location is crucial for real-time earthquake monitoring. ML-based classical workflows face challenges when analyzing microseismic data. To leverage the advantages of both full waveform methods and ML techniques, a new workflow called MALMI is proposed, which integrates ML and waveform migration for automated event detection and location.
SEISMOLOGICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Timothy Lee, Tobias Diehl, Edi Kissling, Stefan Wiemer
Summary: Seismotectonic interpretations in regions with low to moderate seismicity require consistent earthquake catalogues covering multiple decades. However, changes in network configuration and analysis procedures introduce bias and uncertainty to hypocentre parameters in these catalogues. To address these limitations, we developed a procedure using coupled hypocentre-velocity inversions to compute consistent hypocentre locations while accounting for network geometry changes. We applied these procedures to 35 years of seismicity data along the Rhone-Simplon fault system in southwest Switzerland, revealing the characteristics and distribution of seismic activity in the region.
GEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL
(2023)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Leila Mizrahi, Shyam Nandan, William Savran, Stefan Wiemer, Yehuda Ben-Zion
Summary: This paper proposes a question-driven ensemble (QDE) modeling approach to address the goals of gaining new insights into earthquake physics and producing improved forecasts. Through pseudoprospective forecasting experiments in southern California and Italy, it is found that certain QDE models outperform standard ETAS and ingredient models, effectively addressing the issues in both regions.
SEISMOLOGICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Tobias Diehl, Herfried Madritsch, Michael Schnellmann, Thomas Spillmann, Elmar Brockmann, Stefan Wiemer
Summary: This study presents a seismotectonic analysis of the Miocene-aged Hegau-Bodensee Graben, revealing the seismic activity and kinematics of the bounding faults. The results suggest that the bounding faults are likely to be reactivated in the present-day stress field. Comparison with historical seismicity indicates the potential for generating moderate earthquakes in this fault zone.
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Toni Kraft, On Ki Angel Ling, Tania Toledo, Bettina Scheu, Simon C. Staehler, John Clinton, Stefan Stange
Summary: We present seismic and (infra)acoustic observations of the 15 January 2022 Hunga- Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai (HTHH) eruption from Switzerland and central Europe, providing insights into the global reach of the eruption through seismoacoustic coupling of atmospheric oscillations and atmospheric waves. High-frequency seismoacoustic signals coinciding with the passage of low-frequency atmospheric waves were recorded, triggering false local-earthquake detections. Thunderlike sounds were also reported in central Europe, suggesting that the vigorous volcanic lightning activity at HTHH was the source of these high-frequency signals.
SEISMOLOGICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Sandro Truttmann, Tobias Diehl, Marco Herwegh
Summary: This study presents a novel method for imaging the detailed 3D architectures of seismically active faults based on high-precision hypocenter catalogs using nearest neighbor learning and principal component analysis. The method was applied to the St. Leonard and Anzere microearthquake sequences in the Southwestern Swiss Alps, revealing strike-slip fault systems with interconnecting stepovers at depths of 3-7 km and lengths ranging from 0.5 to 2 km. The proposed method has broad potential applications in monitoring hydraulic fracture stimulations or geothermal exploration of natural, fluid-bearing faults.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SOLID EARTH
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Luca Dal Zilio, Domenico Giardini, Ramon Carbonell, Stefan Wiemer
Summary: Digital twins, as virtual replicas of natural systems, are promising tools for assessing seismic hazard, aiding disaster decision-making, and earthquake rapid response. However, the challenges of exascale computing need to be tackled to create adaptable systems capable of meeting evolving earthquake dynamics.
NATURE REVIEWS EARTH & ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Review
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Fritz Schlunegger, Edi Kissling
Summary: The stratigraphic development of foreland basins in the European Alps is closely related to the geological changes in the region and the control of slab loads. From 30 to 15 million years ago, the Molasse basin underwent a transition from deep marine to overfilled terrestrial conditions, influenced by subduction processes and slab breakoff.