Combined approach of poroelastic and earthquake nucleation applied to the reservoir-induced seismic activity in the Val d’Agri area, Italy

In this work, an approach is developed to study the seismicity associated with the impoundment and level changes of a water reservoir (reservoir induced seismicity – RIS). The proposed methodology features a combination of a semi-analytical poroelastic model with an earthquake nucleation approach ba...

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Main Authors: Antonio P. Rinaldi, Luigi Improta, Sebastian Hainzl, Flaminia Catalli, Luca Urpi, Stefan Wiemer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2020-08-01
Series:Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674775520300706
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spelling doaj-87c4757feb5a4f1cb72034dd593095cd2020-11-25T03:56:51ZengElsevierJournal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering1674-77552020-08-01124802810Combined approach of poroelastic and earthquake nucleation applied to the reservoir-induced seismic activity in the Val d’Agri area, ItalyAntonio P. Rinaldi0Luigi Improta1Sebastian Hainzl2Flaminia Catalli3Luca Urpi4Stefan Wiemer5Swiss Seismological Service, ETH, Zurich, Switzerland; Corresponding author.Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, INGV, Rome, ItalyDeutsches GeoForshung – Zentrum, GFZ, Potsdam, GermanyDeutsches GeoForshung – Zentrum, GFZ, Potsdam, Germany; RatePAY GmbH, Berlin, GermanySwiss Seismological Service, ETH, Zurich, SwitzerlandSwiss Seismological Service, ETH, Zurich, SwitzerlandIn this work, an approach is developed to study the seismicity associated with the impoundment and level changes of a water reservoir (reservoir induced seismicity – RIS). The proposed methodology features a combination of a semi-analytical poroelastic model with an earthquake nucleation approach based on rate-and-state frictional law. The combined approach was applied to the case of the Pertusillo Lake, located in the Val d’Agri area (Italy), whose large seasonal water level changes are believed to induce protracted micro-seismicity (local magnitude ML < 3). Results show that the lake impoundment in 1962 could have produced up to 0.5 bar (1 bar = 100 kPa) changes in Coulomb failure stress (ΔCFS), while the seasonal water level variation is responsible for variation up to 0.05 bar. Modeling results of the seismicity rates in 2001−2014 show that the observed earthquakes are well correlated with the modeled ΔCFS. Finally, the reason that the seismicity is only observed at southwest of the Pertusillo Lake is provided, which is likely attributed to different rock lithologies and depletion caused by significant hydrocarbon exploitation in the northeastern sector of the lake.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674775520300706Reservoir induced seismicity (RIS)PoroelasticityRate-and-state frictional lawPertusillo lake
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Antonio P. Rinaldi
Luigi Improta
Sebastian Hainzl
Flaminia Catalli
Luca Urpi
Stefan Wiemer
spellingShingle Antonio P. Rinaldi
Luigi Improta
Sebastian Hainzl
Flaminia Catalli
Luca Urpi
Stefan Wiemer
Combined approach of poroelastic and earthquake nucleation applied to the reservoir-induced seismic activity in the Val d’Agri area, Italy
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
Reservoir induced seismicity (RIS)
Poroelasticity
Rate-and-state frictional law
Pertusillo lake
author_facet Antonio P. Rinaldi
Luigi Improta
Sebastian Hainzl
Flaminia Catalli
Luca Urpi
Stefan Wiemer
author_sort Antonio P. Rinaldi
title Combined approach of poroelastic and earthquake nucleation applied to the reservoir-induced seismic activity in the Val d’Agri area, Italy
title_short Combined approach of poroelastic and earthquake nucleation applied to the reservoir-induced seismic activity in the Val d’Agri area, Italy
title_full Combined approach of poroelastic and earthquake nucleation applied to the reservoir-induced seismic activity in the Val d’Agri area, Italy
title_fullStr Combined approach of poroelastic and earthquake nucleation applied to the reservoir-induced seismic activity in the Val d’Agri area, Italy
title_full_unstemmed Combined approach of poroelastic and earthquake nucleation applied to the reservoir-induced seismic activity in the Val d’Agri area, Italy
title_sort combined approach of poroelastic and earthquake nucleation applied to the reservoir-induced seismic activity in the val d’agri area, italy
publisher Elsevier
series Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
issn 1674-7755
publishDate 2020-08-01
description In this work, an approach is developed to study the seismicity associated with the impoundment and level changes of a water reservoir (reservoir induced seismicity – RIS). The proposed methodology features a combination of a semi-analytical poroelastic model with an earthquake nucleation approach based on rate-and-state frictional law. The combined approach was applied to the case of the Pertusillo Lake, located in the Val d’Agri area (Italy), whose large seasonal water level changes are believed to induce protracted micro-seismicity (local magnitude ML < 3). Results show that the lake impoundment in 1962 could have produced up to 0.5 bar (1 bar = 100 kPa) changes in Coulomb failure stress (ΔCFS), while the seasonal water level variation is responsible for variation up to 0.05 bar. Modeling results of the seismicity rates in 2001−2014 show that the observed earthquakes are well correlated with the modeled ΔCFS. Finally, the reason that the seismicity is only observed at southwest of the Pertusillo Lake is provided, which is likely attributed to different rock lithologies and depletion caused by significant hydrocarbon exploitation in the northeastern sector of the lake.
topic Reservoir induced seismicity (RIS)
Poroelasticity
Rate-and-state frictional law
Pertusillo lake
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674775520300706
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