Application of spectral analysis to the reservoir-triggered earthquakes in Three Gorges reservoir region, China

Lifen Zhang (), Kalpna Gahalaut, Wulin Liao, Yannan Zhao, Yunsheng Yao, Jinggang Li, Weibing Qin, Guichun Wei and Ziyan Zhou
Additional contact information
Lifen Zhang: Key Laboratory of Earthquake Geodesy, Institute of Seismology, China Earthquake Administration
Kalpna Gahalaut: CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute
Wulin Liao: Key Laboratory of Earthquake Geodesy, Institute of Seismology, China Earthquake Administration
Yannan Zhao: Key Laboratory of Earthquake Geodesy, Institute of Seismology, China Earthquake Administration
Yunsheng Yao: Key Laboratory of Earthquake Geodesy, Institute of Seismology, China Earthquake Administration
Jinggang Li: Key Laboratory of Earthquake Geodesy, Institute of Seismology, China Earthquake Administration
Weibing Qin: China Three Gorges Corp
Guichun Wei: Key Laboratory of Earthquake Geodesy, Institute of Seismology, China Earthquake Administration
Ziyan Zhou: Key Laboratory of Earthquake Geodesy, Institute of Seismology, China Earthquake Administration

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2023, vol. 118, issue 1, No 19, 479-494

Abstract: Abstract In the Three Gorges reservoir region, central China, seismic activity increased substantially after the reservoir impoundment in 2003 which continues till date. Previous studies show that these are reservoir-triggered earthquakes and various factors are responsible for the increase in seismic activity after the reservoir impoundment. However, these studies do not provide a comprehensive assessment of influence of reservoir water level variations on spatiotemporal distribution of earthquakes. In this study, we statistically analyze the influence of the water level variations on the increased seismic activity in the reservoir region for the period from May 2003 to April 2020, using the power spectrum and singular spectrum techniques. Our statistical analyses confirm the influence of long-term variations in the water level time series on the occurrence of earthquakes after the reservoir impoundment. The analysis also indicates a positive role of annual reservoir water level fluctuations in the total seismicity of the region. Depending on the cluster patterns and relationship with faults, the earthquakes of the Three Gorges reservoir region are divided into three seismic zones (A, B, and C). For zone C, both the power spectrum and singular spectrum analyses confirm the strong periodic influence of reservoir water level variations on the earthquakes. Increase in seismicity of zone B is only in the initial period but not in the later stages of water impoundment and our statistical analyses indicate that the seismicity of this zone is not directly related to the annual reservoir water level variations. This confirms the conjecture in the earlier studies that the seismicity of this zone is related to the collapse of coal mines present in the area in the initial stages of reservoir impoundment. For zone A, our statistical analyses do not show strong influence of the annual reservoir water level variations on the occurrence of earthquakes. We suggest that this is due to the contribution of various other factors along with reservoir impoundment in the occurrence of earthquakes in this zone, as also opined in some earlier studies.

Keywords: Three Gorges Reservoir; Induced seismicity; Singular spectrum analysis; Water level fluctuations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11069-023-06014-w Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:118:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s11069-023-06014-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11069

DOI: 10.1007/s11069-023-06014-w

Access Statistics for this article

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards is currently edited by Thomas Glade, Tad S. Murty and Vladimír Schenk

More articles in Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards from Springer, International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().