Title: Modeling earthquake effects on groundwater levels: evidences from the 2012 Emilia earthquake (Italy)

Journal Article · · Geofluids
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/gfl.12165 · OSTI ID:1474953
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [1];  [1]
  1. National Inst. of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), Bologna (Italy); Univ. of Bologna (Italy)
  2. National Inst. of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), Bologna (Italy)
  3. National Inst. of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), Bologna (Italy). National Center for Earthquakes
  4. Univ. of Bologna (Italy)
  5. Regional Environmental Protection Agency (ARPA), Bologna (Italy)
  6. Swiss Federal Inst. of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) (Switzerland). Swiss Seismological Service
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Changes in water level are commonly reported in regions struck by a seismic event. The sign and amplitude of such changes depend on the relative position of measuring points with respect to the hypocenter, and on the poroelastic properties of the rock. We apply a porous media flow model (TOUGH2) to describe groundwater flow and water-level changes associated with the first ML5.9 mainshock of the 2012 seismic sequence in Emilia (Italy). We represent the earthquake as an instantaneous pressure step, whose amplitude was inferred from the properties of the seismic source inverted from geodetic data. The results are consistent with the evolution recorded in both deep and shallow water wells in the area and suggest that our description of the seismic event is suitable to capture both timing and magnitude of water-level changes. Finally, we draw some conclusions about the influence of material heterogeneity on the pore pressure evolution, and we show that to reproduce the observed maximum amplitude it is necessary to take into account compaction in the shallow layer.

Research Organization:
National Inst. of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), Bologna (Italy); Univ. of Bologna (Italy)
Sponsoring Organization:
Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) (Italy); USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1474953
Journal Information:
Geofluids, Journal Name: Geofluids Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 16; ISSN 1468-8115
Publisher:
HindawiCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (2)

Poroelasticity and Fluid Flow Modeling for the 2012 Emilia-Romagna Earthquakes: Hints from GPS and InSAR Data journal July 2018
Geological and Structural Control on Localized Ground Effects within the Heunghae Basin during the Pohang Earthquake (MW 5.4, 15th November 2017), South Korea journal April 2019

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Related Subjects

2012 Emilia earthquake
58 GEOSCIENCES
groundwaters
isotropic stress
permeability
porosity
water wells