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Aquifer Permeability Decreases Before Local Earthquakes Inferred From Water Level Response to Period Loading
Author(s) -
Sun Xiaolong,
Xiang Yang
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 - 10.1029/2021gl093856
Subject(s) - permeability (electromagnetism) , aquifer , geology , clogging , seismology , groundwater , geotechnical engineering , history , genetics , archaeology , membrane , biology
Changes of permeability caused by dynamic stress induced by distant earthquakes have been widely reported. Permeability decreases before local earthquakes have been less commonly reported. In this study, we document pre‐earthquake aquifer permeability decreases in a well named X11 in northwest China. The response of the water level to barometric pressure and Earth tides was used to calculate relative changes in permeability between July 2014 and February 2020. The results revealed that there was a decrease in the permeability of the aquifer prior to four local earthquakes between 2015 and 2020. We infer that crack clogging caused by particle deposition causes the permeability decreases before earthquakes.