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Earthquakes

Human-induced shaking

Nature Geoscience volume 5, pages 763–764 (2012)Cite this article

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In 2011, a modest earthquake in southern Spain seriously damaged the city of Lorca. Analysis of surface deformation suggests that the quake was caused by rupture of a shallow fault patch brought closer to failure by the pumping of water from a nearby aquifer.

There are a number of unsolved questions that relate to triggered earthquakes6. For example, the duration and magnitude of the stress perturbation required to trigger an earthquake is unknown. It is also unclear whether the magnitude of the stress perturbation also affects the size of the earthquake, or whether the rupture evolves independently of how it was initiated. Furthermore, it is not clear whether earthquakes triggered by human activities are different from natural earthquakes or are simply prematurely induced natural earthquakes that would have happened anyway at a later time once enough natural stress had built up. More generally, a better understanding of triggered quakes will not only help mitigate against human-induced tremors, but could also improve our understanding of earthquakes that are naturally triggered by crustal stresses induced by past earthquakes, tectonic deformation or movements of magma4.

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Figure 1: The May 2011 Mw 5.1 Lorca earthquake.

© JUAN CARLOS CARDENAS/EPA/CORBIS

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  1. Jean-Philippe Avouac is in the Department of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA

    Jean-Philippe Avouac

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  1. Jean-Philippe Avouac
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Correspondence to Jean-Philippe Avouac.

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Avouac, JP. Human-induced shaking. Nature Geosci 5, 763–764 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1609

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