Various far-field hydrological responses during 2015 Gorkha earthquake at two distant wells

• Main Authors: Xudong Huang, Yu Zhang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SpringerOpen 2021-05-01
• Series: Earth, Planets and Space
• Subjects: Earthquake; Water level; Coherence; Tidal response; Transmissivity
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01441-0

Abstract Aquifer hydraulic parameter can change during earthquakes. Continuous monitoring of the response of water level to seismic waves or solid Earth tides provides an opportunity to document how earthquakes influence hydrological properties. Here, we use data of two groundwater wells, Dian-22 (D22) and Lijiang (LJ) well, in southeast Tibet Plateau in response to the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha earthquake to illustrate hydrological implications. The coherences of water level and seismic wave before and after the far-field earthquake show systematic variations, which may confirm the coseismic dynamic shaking influence at high frequencies (f > 8 cpd). The tidal response of water levels in these wells shows abrupt coseismic changes of both phase shift and amplitude ratio after the earthquake, which may be interpreted as an occurrence in the vertical permeability of a switched semiconfined aquifer in the D22 well, or an enhancement unconfined aquifer in the LJ well. Using the continuous short-term transmissivity monitoring, we show that the possible coseismic response for about 10 days and instant healing after 10 days to the causal earthquake impact. Thus, the dynamic shaking during the Gorkha earthquake may have caused the short-term aquifer responses by reopening of preexisting vertical fractures and later healing at epicentral distances about 1500 km.