Hydrologically-driven crustal stresses and seismicity in the New Madrid Seismic Zone.

ABSTRACT: The degree to which short-term non-tectonic processes, either natural and anthropogenic, influence the occurrence of earthquakes in active tectonic settings or 'stable' plate interiors, remains a subject of debate. Recent work in plate-boundary regions demonstrates the capacity for long-wavelength changes in continental water storage to produce observable surface deformation, induce crustal stresses and modulate seismicity rates. Here we show that a significant variation in the rate of microearthquakes in the intraplate New Madrid Seismic Zone at annual and multi-annual timescales coincides with hydrological loading in the upper Mississippi embayment. We demonstrate that this loading, which results in geodetically observed surface deformation, induces stresses within the lithosphere that,

SUBMITTER: Craig TJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5732252 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature