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Seasonal water storage, stress modulation, and California seismicity

Journal Article · · Science
 [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Berkeley Seismological Lab., and Dept. of Earth and Planetary Science
  2. Bowling Green State Univ., Bowling Green, OH (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
Establishing what controls the timing of earthquakes is fundamental to understanding the nature of the earthquake cycle and critical to determining time-dependent earthquake hazard. Seasonal loading provides a natural laboratory to explore the crustal response to a quantifiable transient force. In California, water storage deforms the crust as snow and water accumulates during the wet winter months. Here, we used 9 years of global positioning system (GPS) vertical deformation time series to constrain models of monthly hydrospheric loading and the resulting stress changes on fault planes of small earthquakes.The seasonal loading analysis reveals earthquakes occurring more frequently during stress conditions that favor earthquake rupture.We infer that California seismicity rates are modestly modulated by natural hydrological loading cycles.
Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1479318
Journal Information:
Science, Journal Name: Science Journal Issue: 6343 Vol. 356; ISSN 0036-8075
Publisher:
AAAS
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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58 GEOSCIENCES