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Artificial Water Reservoir Triggered Earthquakes

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Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Definition and Introduction

Under certain suitable geological conditions, anthropogenic activity can trigger or induce earthquakes. The triggered/induced earthquakes are known to have occurred due to gold and coal mining, petroleum production, filling of artificial water reservoirs, high-pressure liquid injection into ground, and natural gas production. The largest scientifically accepted triggered earthquake of magnitude 6.3 occurred on December 10, 1967 in the vicinity of Koyna Dam near the west coast of India. It is debated whether the M 7 Gazli earthquakes of May 1976 and March 19, 1984 were induced due to the production of large quantities of gas at the Gazli Oil Field in Uzbekistan. There is an argument that the Sichuan, China, M 7.9 earthquake of May 12, 2008, that claimed over 80,000 human lives was triggered due to filling of the nearby Zipingpu reservoir. It has been also proposed that flooding of a river near San Andreas fault in California caused at least two M ∼ 6...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), National Geophysical Research Institute, Uppal Road, Hyderabad, 500606, Andhra Pradesh, India

    Harsh K. Gupta

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    Harsh K. Gupta

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Gupta, H.K. (2011). Artificial Water Reservoir Triggered Earthquakes. In: Gupta, H.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8702-7_15

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