TY - JOUR A1 - Stich, Daniel A1 - Martin, Rosa A1 - Morales, Jose A1 - Lopez-Comino, Jose Angel A1 - Mancilla, Flor de Lis T1 - Slip partitioning in the 2016 Alboran Sea earthquake sequence (western Mediterranean) JF - Frontiers in Earth Science N2 - AM(W)= 5.1 earthquake on January 21st, 2016 marked the beginning of a significant seismic sequence in the southern Alboran Sea, culminating in aM(W)= 6.3 earthquake on January 25th, and continuing with further moderate magnitude earthquakes until March. We use data from 35 seismic broadband stations in Spain, Morocco and Portugal to relocate the seismicity, estimate seismic moment tensors, and isolate regional apparent source time functions for the main earthquake. Relocation and regional moment tensor inversion consistently yield very shallow depths for the majority of events. We obtain 50 moment tensors for the sequence, showing a mixture of strike-slip faulting for the foreshock and the main event and reverse faulting for the major aftershocks. The leading role of reverse focal mechanisms among the aftershocks may be explained by the geometry of the fault network. The mainshock nucleates at a bend along the left-lateral Al-Idrisi fault, introducing local transpression within the transtensional Alboran Basin. The shallow depths of the 2016 Alboran Sea earthquakes may favor slip-partitioning on the involved faults. Apparent source durations for the main event suggest a similar to 21 km long, asymmetric rupture that propagates primarily toward NE into the restraining fault segment, with fast rupture speed of similar to 3.0 km/s. Consistently, the inversion for laterally variable fault displacement situates the main slip in the restraining segment. The partitioning into strike-slip rupture and dip-slip aftershocks confirms a non-optimal orientation of this segment, and suggests that the 2016 event settled a slip deficit from previous ruptures that could not propagate into the stronger restraining segment. KW - slip partitioning KW - fault bend KW - moment tensor KW - source time function KW - shallow earthquakes Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2020.587356 SN - 2296-6463 VL - 8 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Valenzuela-Malebran, Carla A1 - Cesca, Simone A1 - Lopez-Comino, José Ángel A1 - Zeckra, Martin A1 - Krüger, F. A1 - Dahm, Torsten T1 - Source mechanisms and rupture processes of the Jujuy seismic nest, Chile-Argentina border JF - Journal of South American earth sciences N2 - The Altiplano-Puna plateau, in Central Andes, is the second-largest continental plateau on Earth, extending between 22 degrees and 27 degrees S at an average altitude of 4400 m. The Puna plateau has been formed in consequence of the subduction of the oceanic Nazca Plate beneath the continental South American plate, which has an average crustal thickness of 50 km at this location. A large seismicity cluster, the Jujuy cluster, is observed at depth of 150-250 km beneath the central region of the Puna plateau. The cluster is seismically very active, with hundreds of earthquakes reported and a peak magnitude MW 6.6 on 25th August 2006. The cluster is situated in one of three band of intermediate-depth focus seismicity, which extend parallel to the trench roughly North to South. It has been hypothesized that the Jujuy cluster could be a seismic nest, a compact seismogenic region characterized by a high stationary activity relative to its surroundings. In this study, we collected more than 40 years of data from different catalogs and proof that the cluster meets the three conditions of a seismic nest. Compared to other known intermediate depth nests at Hindu Kush (Afganisthan) or Bucaramanga (Colombia), the Jujuy nest presents an outstanding seismicity rate, with more than 100 M4+ earthquakes per year. We additionally performed a detailed analysis of the rupture process of some of the largest earthquakes in the nest, by means of moment tensor inversion and directivity analysis. We focused on the time period 2017-2018, where the seismic monitoring was the most extended. Our results show that earthquakes in the nest take place within the eastward subducting oceanic plate, but rupture along sub-horizontal planes dipping westward. We suggest that seismicity at Jujuy nest is controlled by dehydration processes, which are also responsible for the generation of fluids ascending to the crust beneath the Puna volcanic region. We use the rupture plane and nest geometry to provide a constraint to maximal expected magnitude, which we estimate as MW -6.7. KW - Seismic nest KW - Intermediate-deep earthquakes KW - Cluster analysis moment KW - tensor inversion KW - directivity analysis Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2022.103887 SN - 0895-9811 SN - 1873-0647 VL - 117 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Karamzadeh, Nasim Toularoud A1 - Kühn, Daniela A1 - Kriegerowski, Marius A1 - López-Comino, José Ángel A1 - Cesca, Simone A1 - Dahm, Torsten T1 - Small-aperture array as a tool to monitor fluid injection- and extraction-induced microseismicity BT - applications and recommendations JF - Acta Geophysica N2 - The monitoring of microseismicity during temporary human activities such as fluid injections for hydrofracturing, hydrothermal stimulations or wastewater disposal is a difficult task. The seismic stations often cannot be installed on hard rock, and at quiet places, noise is strongly increased during the operation itself and the installation of sensors in deep wells is costly and often not feasible. The combination of small-aperture seismic arrays with shallow borehole sensors offers a solution. We tested this monitoring approach at two different sites: (1) accompanying a fracking experiment in sedimentary shale at 4km depth and (2) above a gas field under depletion. The small-aperture arrays were planned according to theoretical wavenumber studies combined with simulations considering the local noise conditions. We compared array recordings with recordings available from shallow borehole sensors and give examples of detection and location performance. Although the high-frequency noise on the 50-m-deep borehole sensors was smaller compared to the surface noise before the injection experiment, the signals were highly contaminated during injection by the pumping activities. Therefore, a set of three small-aperture arrays at different azimuths was more suited to detect small events, since noise recorded on these arrays is uncorrelated with each other. Further, we developed recommendations for the adaptation of the monitoring concept to other sites experiencing induced seismicity. KW - Microseismic monitoring KW - Induced seismicity KW - Array seismology KW - Shallow borehole sensors Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11600-018-0231-1 SN - 1895-6572 SN - 1895-7455 VL - 67 IS - 1 SP - 311 EP - 326 PB - Springer CY - Cham ER - TY - JOUR A1 - López-Comino, José Ángel A1 - Cesca, Simone A1 - Niemz, Peter A1 - Dahm, Torsten A1 - Zang, Arno T1 - Rupture directivity in 3D inferred from acoustic emissions events in a mine-scale hydraulic fracturing experiment JF - Frontiers in Earth Science N2 - Rupture directivity, implying a predominant earthquake rupture propagation direction, is typically inferred upon the identification of 2D azimuthal patterns of seismic observations for weak to large earthquakes using surface-monitoring networks. However, the recent increase of 3D monitoring networks deployed in the shallow subsurface and underground laboratories toward the monitoring of microseismicity allows to extend the directivity analysis to 3D modeling, beyond the usual range of magnitudes. The high-quality full waveforms recorded for the largest, decimeter-scale acoustic emission (AE) events during a meter-scale hydraulic fracturing experiment in granites at similar to 410 m depth allow us to resolve the apparent durations observed at each AE sensor to analyze 3D-directivity effects. Unilateral and (asymmetric) bilateral ruptures are then characterized by the introduction of a parameter kappa, representing the angle between the directivity vector and the station vector. While the cloud of AE activity indicates the planes of the hydrofractures, the resolved directivity vectors show off-plane orientations, indicating that rupture planes of microfractures on a scale of centimeters have different geometries. Our results reveal a general alignment of the rupture directivity with the orientation of the minimum horizontal stress, implying that not only the slip direction but also the fracture growth produced by the fluid injections is controlled by the local stress conditions. KW - directivity KW - earthquake source KW - induced seismicity KW - hydraulic KW - fracturing KW - acoustic emissions Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.670757 SN - 2296-6463 VL - 9 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Grigoli, Francesco A1 - Cesca, Simone A1 - Rinaldi, Antonio Pio A1 - Manconi, Andrea A1 - Lopez-Comino, José Ángel A1 - Clinton, John F. A1 - Westaway, Rob A1 - Cauzzi, Carlo A1 - Dahm, Torsten A1 - Wiemer, Stefan T1 - The November 2017 M-w 5.5 Pohang earthquake BT - a possible case of induced seismicity in South Korea JF - Science N2 - The moment magnitude (M-w) 5.5 earthquake that struck South Korea in November 2017 was one of the largest and most damaging events in that country over the past century. Its proximity to an enhanced geothermal system site, where high-pressure hydraulic injection had been performed during the previous 2 years, raises the possibility that this earthquake was anthropogenic. We have combined seismological and geodetic analyses to characterize the mainshock and its largest aftershocks, constrain the geometry of this seismic sequence, and shed light on its causal factors. According to our analysis, it seems plausible that the occurrence of this earthquake was influenced by the aforementioned industrial activities. Finally, we found that the earthquake transferred static stress to larger nearby faults, potentially increasing the seismic hazard in the area. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat2010 SN - 0036-8075 SN - 1095-9203 VL - 360 IS - 6392 SP - 1003 EP - 1006 PB - American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science CY - Washington ER - TY - GEN A1 - Cesca, Simone A1 - Stich, Daniel A1 - Grigoli, Francesco A1 - Vuan, Alessandro A1 - López-Comino, José Ángel A1 - Niemz, Peter A1 - Blanch, Estefanía A1 - Dahm, Torsten A1 - Ellsworth, William L. T1 - Reply to: Multiple induced seismicity mechanisms at Castor underground gas storage illustrate the need for thorough monitoring T2 - Nature communications Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30904-5 SN - 2041-1723 VL - 13 IS - 1 PB - Nature Research CY - Berlin ER -