Table Of ContentFurther titles in this series:
Volumes2, 3, 5-7,9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16A, 22 and 26 are out of print
1. G. SANGLERAT — THE PENETROMETER AND SOIL EXPLORATION
4. R. SILVESTER — COASTAL ENGINEERING, 1 and 2
8. L.N. PERSEN — ROCK DYNAMICS AND GEOPHYSICAL EXPLORATION
Introduction to Stress Waves in Rocks
11. H.K. GUPTA AND B.K. RASTOGI — DAMS AND EARTHQUAKES
14. B. VOIGHT (Editor) — ROCKSLIDES AND AVALANCHES, 1 and 2
17. A.P.S. SELVADURAI — ELASTIC ANALYSIS OF SOIL-FOUNDATION INTERACTION
18. J. FEDA — STRESS IN SUBSOIL AND METHODS OF FINAL SETTLEMENT CALCULATION
19. A. KEZDI — STABILIZED EARTH ROADS
20. E.W. BRAND AND R.P. BRENNER (Editors) — SOFT-CLAY ENGINEERING
21. A. MYSLIVE AND Z. KYSELA — THE BEARING CAPACITY OF BUILDING FOUNDATIONS
23. P. BRUUN — STABILITY OF TIDAL INLETS
Theory and Engineering
24. Z. BAZANT — METHODS OF FOUNDATION ENGINEERING
25. A. KEZDI — SOIL PHYSICS
Selected Topics
27. D. STEPHENSON — ROCKFILL IN HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING
28. P.E. FRIVIK, N. JANBU, R. SAETERSDAL AND L.I. FINBORUD (Editors) — GROUND FREEZING 1980
29. P. PETER--CANAL AND RIVER LEVEES
30. J. FEDA — MECHANICS OF PARTICULATE MATERIALS
The Principles
31. Q. ZARUBA AND V, MENCL — LANDSLIDES AND THEIR CONTROL
Second completely revised edition
32. I.W. FARMER (Editor) — STRATA MECHANICS
33. L. HOBST AND J. ZAJIC — ANCHORING IN ROCK AND SOIL
Second completely revised edition
34. G. SANGLERAT, G. OLIVARI AND B. CAMBOU — PRACTICAL PROBLEMS IN SOIL MECHANICS AND
FOUNDATION ENGINEERING, 1 and 2
35. L. RETHATI — GROUNDWATER IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
36. S.S. VYALOV — RHEOLOGICAL FUNDAMENTALS OF SOIL MECHANICS
37. P. BRUUN (Editor) — DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF MOUNDS FOR BREAKWATERS AND COASTAL
PROTECTION
38. W.F. CHEN AND G.Y. BALADI — SOIL PLASTICITY
Theory and Implementation
39. E.T. HANRAHAN — THE GEOTECTONICS OF REAL MATERIALS: THE Cg, 6^ METHOD
40. J. ALDORF AND K. EXNER — MINE OPENINGS
Stability and Support
41. J.E. GILLOTT — CLAY IN ENGINEERING GEOLOGY
42. A.S. CAKMAK (Editor) — SOIL DYNAMICS AND LIQUEFACTION
42. A.S, CAKMAK (Editor) — SOIL-STRUCTURE INTERACTION
44. A.S. CAKMAK (Editor) — GROUND MOTION AND ENGINEERING SEISMOLOGY
45. A.S. CAKMAK (Editor) — STRUCTURES, UNDERGROUND STRUCTURES, DAMS, AND STOCHASTIC
METHODS
46. L. RETHATI — PROBABILISTIC SOLUTIONS IN GEOTECTONICS
47. B.M. DAS — THEORETICAL FOUNDATION ENGINEERING
48. W. DERSKI, R. IZBICKI, I. KISIEL AND Z. MROZ — ROCK AND SOIL MECHANICS
49. T. ARIMAN, M. HAMADA, A.C. SINGHAL, M.A. HAROUN AND A.S. CAKMAK (Editors) — RECENT
ADVANCES IN LIFELINE EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING
50. B.M. DAS — EARTH ANCHORS
51. K. THIEL — ROCK MECHANICS IN HYDROENGINEERING
52. W.F. CHEN AND X.L. LIU — LIMIT ANALYSIS IN SOIL MECHANICS
53. W.F. CHEN AND E. MIZUNO ~ NONLINEAR ANALYSIS IN SOIL MECHANICS
54. F.H. CHEN — FOUNDATIONS ON EXPANSIVE SOILS
55. J. VERFEL —ROCK GROUTING AND DIAPHRAGM WALL CONSTRUCTION
56. B.N. WHITTAKER AND D J. REDDISH — SUBSIDENCE
Occurrence, Prediction and Control
57. E. NONVEILLER — GROUTING, THEORY AND PRACTICE
58. V. KOLAR AND I. NEMEC — MODELLING OF SOIL-STRUCTURE INTERACTION
59A. R.S. SINHA — UNDERGROUND STRUCTURES
Design and Instrumentation
59B. R.S. SINHA — UNDERGROUND STRUCTURES
Design and Construction
60. R.L. HARLAN, K.E. KOLM AND E.D. GUTENTAG — WATER-WELL DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
61. I. KAZDA — FINITE ELEMENT TECHNIQUES IN GROUNDV ATER FLOW STUDIES
62. L. FlALOVSZKY (Editor) — SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS AND THEIR OPERATIONAL PRINCIPLES
63. H.GIL — THE THEORY OF STRATA MECHANICS
65. V.J. LUNARDINI — HEAT TRANSFER WITH FREEZING AND THAWING
67. E. JUHASOVA — SEISMIC EFFECTS ON STRUCTURES
Developments in Geotechnical Engineering, 64
Reservoir - Induced
Earthquakes
HARSH K. GUPTA
Vice Chancellor
Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin 682022, India
and
Adjunct Professor
Programs in Geosciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson,
Texas 75083, U.S.A.
ELSEVIER
Amsterdam — London — New York — Tokyo 1992
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To
Manju, Nitu and Benu
VII
FOREWORD
The topic of reservoir-induced seismicity has been one of the success
stories of the last two decades in seismology. I still remember the incredulity
with which we learned while attending a geophysical conference in New
Zealand in 1966 that a Greek seismologist had claimed that a damaging
earthquake had been provoked by the filling of a reservoir. Professor
Galanopoulos' later report of this activity around Lake Kremasta has
become one of the classic cases of documenting this phenomenon. I also
remember, in 1967, pondering at the first news of the Koyna earthquake
and wondering what might be the reason for such a large event in that
particular part of India. In the intervening years the subject has blossomed,
initially helped by the support of international bodies such as the UNESCO
and the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD), and always
encouraged by the enthusiastic investigations of Professor J.-P Rothe.
The subject has also benefitted from the careful attention given by Dr.
Harsh Gupta, and it is a pleasure to see this edition, following the definitive
book "Dams and Earthquakes" written with Dr. B.K. Rastogi in 1976.
Since the publication of "Dams and Earthquakes", the subject has
acquired much more respectability and is better understood, but, more
importantly, it has contributed greatly to the understanding of the role of
fluids in earthquake genesis. No longer it is simply a case of observing
earthquakes as reservoirs are filled, but rather of following fluid paths
through the ground, of relating seismicity to local and regional stress
patterns, and even acknowledging that in some conditions earthquakes
may be "inhibited" rather than "induced" by raising water levels, or
"induced" by rapid draw-down.
Significant earthquakes have been associated with large reservoirs at
Oroville in California, and elsewhere over the last fifteen years. In par
ticular, the studies of Professor D.W. Simpson with colleagues from the
Soviet Union at Nurek and from Egypt at Lake Nasser have attracted well-
merited interest, but there has also been much careful study of smaller,
less spectacular instances, such as led by Professor Ε Talwani in South
Carolina. All these have contributed greatly to the understanding of the
phenomenon.
Engineers and designers can no longer neglect the possibility of seismic
ity being associated with their reservoirs, and it is now almost universally
accepted that such enterprises should have their own recording network,
which as well as providing detailed monitoring of the site, can contribute
VIII Foreword
to the general seismic surveillance of the £irea. It is also becoming accepted
that it is imperative to determine the background level of seismic activity
before impounding. In the early days, too often was the monitoring started
after the time of impounding, so there was no way of knowing if there had
been a change of activity at that time.
In this edition, Dr. Gupta carefully reviews many case histories, but he
also discusses the broader theory of the phenomenon. He is to be congrat
ulated on this work and his contribution to the subject.
R.D. ADAMS Newbury, July 1990
Secretary General, International Association
of Seismology and Physics of the Earth Interior
IX
PREFACE
"Reservoir-Induced Earthquakes" presents comprehensive present-day
information on earthquakes induced by artificial water reservoirs. There
are now over 70 known cases of reservoir-induced earthquakes. Inves
tigation of reservoir-induced seismicity (RIS) is important from several
viewpoints: to find safer dam sites and mitigate the hazard of induced
earthquakes, to improve our understanding of the physics of earthquakes,
and to test various earthquake models and hypotheses. These all con
tribute to earthquake prediction which is one of the most important goals
of seismology. Damaging reservoir-induced earthquakes have occurred at
Hsinfengkiang (China), Kariba (Zambia), Kremasta (Greece), Koyna (In
dia), Oroville (California) and Aswan (Egypt).
The December 10, 1967 earthquake of magnitude 6.3 at Koyna is, so far,
the largest and most damaging reservoir-induced earthquake. It claimed
over 200 human lives, injured 1,500, and rendered thousands homeless.
Experiments conducted at the Monticello Reservoir, South Carolina have
demonstrated that when suitable physical measurements of rock properties
are made, a fairly accurate physical model of induced seismicity can
be obtained. Remarkable success has been achieved in predicting small-
magnitude earthquakes at the reservoirs in South Carolina and elsewhere.
Chapter 1 gives a general introduction to the phenomenon of RIS
while Chapter 2 provides a brief overview of its worldwide distribution. In
Chapters 3-9 the salient aspects of induced earthquakes at reservoirs where
large (>5) induced earthquakes occurred, and/or for which new results on
RIS have been reported in the recent years, are described. They include
Hsinfengkiang and a few other reservoirs in the People's Republic of
China, Koyna (India), Oroville (CaHfornia), Nurek and Toktogul (U.S.S.R.),
reservoirs in South Carolina, Aswan (Egypt) and Bhatsa (India). In Chapter
10, the geology and seismicity of the other RIS sites which are important
from the point of view of historical and conceptual development are
presented. Regional observation on induced earthquakes in Brazil, Japan,
and the Peninsular Shield of India are also included in this chapter.
The characteristic seismic features of reservoir-induced earthquakes
and the differences between reservoir-induced earthquake sequences and
natural earthquake sequences are presented in Chapter 11.
Considerable progress has been made in the understanding of the
mechanism of reservoir-induced earthquakes in the recent years. These
developments are discussed in Chapter 12. Why the large artificial reser-
χ Preface
voirs in the foothills of Himalaya do not induce earthquakes is examined
in Chapter 13. Chapter 14 deals with other RIS-related topics such as
the estimation of the maximum magnitude of induced earthquakes which
may occur at a given reservoir site, the prediction of induced earthquakes,
and dam site investigations and measurements that should be carried out
during the planning and operation of the reservoirs.
There is a general reluctance in parts of the engineering community,
worldwide, to accept the significance, or even the existence, of reservoir-
induced seismicity. From both an economic and public safety consideration,
the problem of reservoir-induced earthquakes deserves far more attention
than it is presently receiving in most parts of the world. The builders of
major dams have an obligation to support research and measurements (at
a cost of less than Iwill eventually provide better solutions for RIS-related
problems.
In 1976, Gupta and Rastogi have described the then existing knowledge
about reservoir-induced earthquakes in their book "Dams and Earth
quakes". Some portions of that text are included in the present book.
This book was written during a brief sojourn at The Programs in
Geosciences, University of Texas at Dallas, U.S.A., which was initiated
by Professor Dick Mitterer. Dr. James L. Carter, Program Head, and Dr.
David Dunn, Dean of School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics provided
excellent support. Discussions with Dr. Carter and other faculty members
were extremely helpful. Professors George McMechan, Mark Landisman
and James Carter offered useful suggestions; the manuscript improved
considerably through these interactions.
I continuously interacted with Drs. Pradeep Talwani, David Simpson,
B.K. Rastogi and H.M. Iyer on the different aspects of induced seismicity.
The input of Dr. Pradeep Talwani was particularly useful. Dr. David Simp
son and several other authors provided preprints of their work. Professor
Jesus Berrocal provided information on RIS in Brazil. Discussions with
scientists during visits to several sites of induced earthquakes, particularly
Hsinfengkiang (China), Nurek (U.S.S.R.), Kariba (Zambia), Koyna and
Bhatsa (India) and Oroville (California), and to the University of South
Carolina, Columbia, have been helpful.
Credit for illustrative material is given in the figure captions. Thanks
are expressed to the publishers for permission to reproduce previously
published diagrams. Alice Somerville, Kusla Rajendran, Lois Potter, Tim
Hitchcock and Benu Gupta helped in literature survey, the preparation of
the diagrams, and other logistics.
Mr. K. Chandrasekharan, Minister for Education, Kerala Government,
India, and Mr. T.N. Jayachandran, Secretary, Government of India, pro
vided encouragement. Drs. Hari Narain and B.R Radhakrishna provided
motivation through enquiries and prodding to complete this work.
Preface XI
Friends at Dallas, particularly Jyoti and Navin Parekh, Sujata and Ram
Wadhwani, made my sojourn very pleasant.
One person who deserves special thanks and acknowledgement is Christi
Bell. Her unending enthusiasm, sincerity and thoroughness are largely
responsible for the production of the manuscript in a short time.
I am thankful to Dr. Robin Adams for his Foreword. It has been a
pleasure to work with Elsevier during the production of this book.
HARSH K. GUPTA Dallas, Texas, May 31, 1990
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Some of man's engineering activities influence the way crustal stresses
are released in earthquakes; these include impounding of deep artificial
water reservoirs, underground mining, large-scale surface quarrying, high-
pressure fluid injection for geothermal power generation, oil production,
solution mining and waste disposal, removal of underground fluids such as
oil, gas and water, and underground explosions (Simpson, 1986). The largest
reservoir impoundment-triggered earthquakes have exceeded magnitude 6;
the largest earthquakes triggered by the other engineering activities have
been of magnitude ~5.
There are currently more than 70 examples of reservoir-induced seis
micity (RIS). The first known example of RIS was that associated with
Lake Mead, formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, in the
United States of America in the late 1930's. At Lake Mead, the largest
earthquake was of magnitude 5. During the 1960's, damaging earthquakes
exceeding magnitude 6 occurred near large reservoirs at Hsinfengkiang in
the People's Republic of China, at Kariba in the Zambia-Zimbabwe border
region, at Kremasta in Greece, and at Koyna in India. The December 10,
1967, earthquake of magnitude 6.3 at Koyna is, so far, the largest and most
damaging reservoir-induced earthquake. It claimed over 200 human lives,
injured 1,500, and rendered thousands homeless. Civil works in the Koyna
Nagar town suffered major damage. The Hsinfengkiang and the Koyna
earthquakes caused significant damage to the dams themselves. Other
reservoir-induced earthquakes such as those at Kariba, Kremasta and, in
later years, at Oroville, California and Aswan, Egypt have caused damage in
nearby towns and villages. Papers published by Rothe (1968, 1970), Archer
and Allen (1969), Gupta et al. (1969) and Gough and Gough (1970a, b)
drew attention to the correlation between reservoir loading and enhanced
seismicity, thereby generating interest in the problem of reservoir-induced
earthquakes.
Huge artificial water reservoirs exist all over the world for generation of
hydroelectric and nuclear power, flood control, irrigation, human consump
tion, and other requirements. Realizing the socio-economic importance of
the phenomenon of reservoir-induced seismicity, UNESCO formed a Work
ing Group on "Seismic Phenomena Associated with Large Reservoirs" in
1970. A meeting of this working group in Paris in 1970, a publication on
RIS by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (1972), and two symposia
on induced seismicity organized by UNESCO [in London, U.K., in 1973
