Squeezing Marsquakes Out of Groundwater

Manga, Michael; Zhai, Guang; Wang, Chi‐Yuen

doi:10.1029/2019gl082892

Title: Squeezing Marsquakes Out of Groundwater

Journal Article · 24 June 2019 · Geophysical Research Letters

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2019gl082892 · OSTI ID:1580887

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Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

Pore pressure in aquifers confined below a cryosphere will increase as Mars cools and the cryosphere thickens. Increased pore pressure decreases the effective stress and hence promotes seismicity. We calculate the rate of pore pressure change from cooling of Mars's interior and the modulation of pore pressure from solar and Phobos tides and barometric loading. Using the time-varying pressure and tidal stresses, we compute Coulomb stress changes and the expected seismicity rate from a rate-and-state friction model. Seismicity rate will vary by several tens of percent to 2 orders of magnitude if the mean pore pressure is within 0.2 and 0.01 MPa of lithostatic, respectively. Seismic events promoted by high pore pressure may be tremor-like. Documenting (or not) tidally modulated shallow seismicity would provide evidence for (or against) water-filled confined aquifers, that pore pressure is high, and that the state of stress is close to failure—with implications for processes that can deliver water to the Martian surface.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231; SC0019307

OSTI ID:: 1580887

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1560204

Journal Information:: Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 46, Issue 12; ISSN 0094-8276

Publisher:: American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 8 works

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