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Hydrological Effects on Seismic‐Noise Monitoring in Karstic Media
Author(s) -
Almagro Vidal C.,
Zaccarelli L.,
Pintori F.,
Bragato P. L.,
Serpelloni E.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2021gl093191
Subject(s) - karst , geology , groundwater , crust , geodetic datum , tectonics , seismology , deformation (meteorology) , geophysics , induced seismicity , geodesy , geotechnical engineering , paleontology , oceanography
Fluctuations in groundwater content may produce surface deformation and affect the elastic properties of the Earth’s crust. In this study, we evaluate the temporal variations of the Earth’s crust elastic properties (in the form of relative seismic‐velocity variations) in a tectonically active region in Northern Italy characterized by the presence of karst systems. In this area, GPS measurements already revealed hydrologically‐induced deformation, modulated by changes in groundwater storage. We study the relation of our seismological observations with the geodetic and hydrological results and identify the effects of groundwater‐content variations in the seismic‐velocity perturbations. Our results show that hydrologically‐induced changes in karstic media produce significant seismic‐velocity perturbations, therefore its role in tectonic‐stress adjustment studies must not be ignored. Depth sensitivity analysis of our results constrain the crustal perturbations to range between 500 and 3,500 m depth. Results from scattering imaging locate the crustal perturbations along the main local karst systems.