Potential seismicity by impoundment of the Baihetan Reservoir, Xiaojiang Fault Zone, Southwest China
Baihetan reservoir, the second-largest hydropower station in China, is located at the east boundary of the Sichuan-Yunnan block, one of the most seismic active zones in continental China. Many studies have shown that the potential risk of reservoir-induced seismicity will ramp up when the crustal st...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Asian Earth Sciences: X |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590056022000275 |
| _version_ | 1811201539072589824 |
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| author | Tiantian Dou Huihong Cheng Huai Zhang Yaolin Shi |
| author_facet | Tiantian Dou Huihong Cheng Huai Zhang Yaolin Shi |
| author_sort | Tiantian Dou |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Baihetan reservoir, the second-largest hydropower station in China, is located at the east boundary of the Sichuan-Yunnan block, one of the most seismic active zones in continental China. Many studies have shown that the potential risk of reservoir-induced seismicity will ramp up when the crustal stress field is remarkably perturbed following its impoundment. In this work, based on the fully-coupled poroelastic theory, we built models with different parameters to quantitatively analyze the displacement and stress field changes caused by the Baihetan reservoir impoundment. The preliminary results show that the maximum subsidence reaches about 0.3 m, and the stress change is about 0.4 MPa at 5 km after five years of impoundment. Most strikingly, we find a significant increase of Coulomb Failure Stress Change (ΔCFS) on the fault planes at the vicinities of the surrounding Xiaojiang Fault, Daliangshan Fault, and Lianfeng Fault, suggesting high reservoir induced seismicity risks. However, the occurrence of induced/triggered earthquakes is not only related to the regional tectonic loading, but also the rock strength. Moreover, the reservoir water level rise rate will lead to different spatial–temporal patterns of the induced micro-seismicity, however, this difference will gradually disappear as the reservoir continues to operate, and the large earthquake is mainly affected by geological tectonics. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T02:23:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4d1b5146b4cc4bfdb0ee09a88bdae908 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2590-0560 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T02:23:06Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Asian Earth Sciences: X |
| spelling | doaj.art-4d1b5146b4cc4bfdb0ee09a88bdae9082022-12-22T03:52:04ZengElsevierJournal of Asian Earth Sciences: X2590-05602022-12-018100106Potential seismicity by impoundment of the Baihetan Reservoir, Xiaojiang Fault Zone, Southwest ChinaTiantian Dou0Huihong Cheng1Huai Zhang2Yaolin Shi3Key Laboratory of Computational Geodynamics, College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, ChinaCorresponding author.; Key Laboratory of Computational Geodynamics, College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, ChinaKey Laboratory of Computational Geodynamics, College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, ChinaKey Laboratory of Computational Geodynamics, College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, ChinaBaihetan reservoir, the second-largest hydropower station in China, is located at the east boundary of the Sichuan-Yunnan block, one of the most seismic active zones in continental China. Many studies have shown that the potential risk of reservoir-induced seismicity will ramp up when the crustal stress field is remarkably perturbed following its impoundment. In this work, based on the fully-coupled poroelastic theory, we built models with different parameters to quantitatively analyze the displacement and stress field changes caused by the Baihetan reservoir impoundment. The preliminary results show that the maximum subsidence reaches about 0.3 m, and the stress change is about 0.4 MPa at 5 km after five years of impoundment. Most strikingly, we find a significant increase of Coulomb Failure Stress Change (ΔCFS) on the fault planes at the vicinities of the surrounding Xiaojiang Fault, Daliangshan Fault, and Lianfeng Fault, suggesting high reservoir induced seismicity risks. However, the occurrence of induced/triggered earthquakes is not only related to the regional tectonic loading, but also the rock strength. Moreover, the reservoir water level rise rate will lead to different spatial–temporal patterns of the induced micro-seismicity, however, this difference will gradually disappear as the reservoir continues to operate, and the large earthquake is mainly affected by geological tectonics.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590056022000275Reservoir triggered seismicityBaihetan reservoirPoroelastic theoryCoulomb Failure Stress (CFS) |
| spellingShingle | Tiantian Dou Huihong Cheng Huai Zhang Yaolin Shi Potential seismicity by impoundment of the Baihetan Reservoir, Xiaojiang Fault Zone, Southwest China Journal of Asian Earth Sciences: X Reservoir triggered seismicity Baihetan reservoir Poroelastic theory Coulomb Failure Stress (CFS) |
| title | Potential seismicity by impoundment of the Baihetan Reservoir, Xiaojiang Fault Zone, Southwest China |
| title_full | Potential seismicity by impoundment of the Baihetan Reservoir, Xiaojiang Fault Zone, Southwest China |
| title_fullStr | Potential seismicity by impoundment of the Baihetan Reservoir, Xiaojiang Fault Zone, Southwest China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Potential seismicity by impoundment of the Baihetan Reservoir, Xiaojiang Fault Zone, Southwest China |
| title_short | Potential seismicity by impoundment of the Baihetan Reservoir, Xiaojiang Fault Zone, Southwest China |
| title_sort | potential seismicity by impoundment of the baihetan reservoir xiaojiang fault zone southwest china |
| topic | Reservoir triggered seismicity Baihetan reservoir Poroelastic theory Coulomb Failure Stress (CFS) |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590056022000275 |
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