time resolved seismic tomography detects magma intrusions at mount etna the continuous volcanic and seismic activity at mount etna makes this volcano an important laboratory for seismological and geophysical studies we used repeated three dimensional tomography to detect variations in elastic parameters during different volcanic cycles before and during the october 2002 january 2003 flank eruption well defined anomalous low p to s wave velocity ratio volumes were revealed absent during the pre eruptive period the anomalies trace the intrusion of volatile rich 4 weight percent basaltic magma most of which rose up only a few months before the onset of eruption the observed time changes of velocity anomalies suggest that four dimensional tomography provides a basis for more efficient volcano monitoring and short and midterm eruption forecasting of explosive activity

an integrated geophysical investigation of the upper crust in the epicentral area of the 1980 ms 6 9 irpinia earthquake southern italy in this paper we investigate the upper crustal structure of the irpinia region southern apennines thrust belt italy through analysis and joint interpretation of gravity data seismic reflection lines and subsurface information from many deep wells the investigated region includes the epicentral area of the 1980 ms 6 9 irpinia earthquake and is one of the italian regions with the highest seismic hazard the upper crustal structure is imaged by modeling a series of 15 sw trending gravity profiles spaced about 5 km apart plentifully constrained by seismic reflection lines and wells thus reducing the inherent ambiguity of the gravity modeling despite of the complexity of the modeled bouguer anomalies the application of a calibrating procedure to constrain the range of variability of the density values as well as the use of geometric constraints results in a good level of stability in the final density cross sections which in fact appear coherent both in the density values and in the geometrical features the inferred model shows important lateral density variations that can be mostly related to nw trending geologic structures high density bodies delineate carbonate platform thrust sheets and broad antiforms involving mesozoic basinal rocks while low density shallow bodies are associated with pliocene basins in addition important density i e lithological variations are evident along the strike of the range the most relevant being an abrupt deepening of the apulia carbonate platform in the southeastern part of the investigated region in the epicentral region of the 1980 event we find that the geometry of the high density high velocity carbonates of the apulia platform appears correlated with the distribution of the aftershocks and with the p wave velocity anomaly pattern as inferred from a previous local earthquake tomography the structural highs of the apulia platform correspond to high velocity regions where aftershocks and coseismic slip of the mainshock are concentrated this correlation suggests that the apulia carbonate platform geometry played an important role in the rupture propagation and in the aftershock distribution

pore pressure migration along a normal fault system resolved by time repeated seismic tomography in this study we outline the space and time variations of body wave velocities during one of the best documented series of normal faulting earthquakes the 1997 umbria marche sequence in central italy we show the first ever observations of rock fracturing and fluid overpressure propagation along a fault system by using space time resolved variations of vp vs anomalies four dimensional variations that accompany earthquake migration and precede large aftershocks the vp vs increase observed before the mid october earthquakes was related to a pore pressure increase on fluid filled cracks in the volume around the fault we also document that such variations are measurable only by using s and p wave arrival times

controls on sonic velocity in carbonates compressional and shear wave velocities v p and v s of 210 minicores of carbonates from different areas and ages were measured under variable confining and pore fluid pressures the lithologies of the samples range from unconsolidated carbonate mud to completely lithified limestones the velocity measurements enable us to relate velocity variations in carbonates to factors such as mineralogy porosity pore types and density and to quantify the velocity effects of compaction and other diagenetic alterations

floodplains of large rivers weathering reactors or simple silos abstract large river sediments are mostly derived from tectonically active mountain belts but then undergo a series of sedimentation temporary storage and reworking episodes on their journey to the ocean the long transfer time of these sediments through active floodplains might result in a significant chemical maturation via weathering reactions which is of critical importance for biogeochemical cycles at the earth surface this study reports the chemical composition of river sediments from different locations throughout the courses of the main tributaries of the amazon basin sampling along river depth profiles yields access to the whole grain size and chemical composition range of river sediment here weathering intensities i e losses of na k mg and ca associated with chemical weathering in floodplains are 1 examined as a function of grain size and 2 integrated over the whole grain size range for three selected long river reaches flowing through the foreland and the lowland of the amazon basin the upper maranon the beni and the lower madeira rivers a relatively small na loss through plagioclase dissolution is observed in the madeira reach while an important ca loss due to carbonate dissolution occurs in the two foreland reaches maranon and beni no significant loss of k and mg is observed in any of the reaches showing the low alterability of primary k and mg bearing minerals and suggesting retention of k and mg in the particulate phase by secondary minerals the combination of these findings with previously reported data on the downstream change of dissolved na k mg and ca fluxes suggests that chemical weathering of stable alluvial deposits could also significantly contribute to theweathering flux generated in foreland and lowland areas the comparison between the three amazon reaches and the gangetic plain tends to show that the features observed in the amazon are valid on a global scale finally we show that although resulting in a relatively small change in the chemical composition of the river sediment silicate weathering in the lower madeira floodplain can lead to a co2 drawdown equivalent to ca 10 of the total co2 consumption flux of the whole madeira basin

detecting young slow slipping active faults by geologic and multidisciplinary high resolution geophysical investigations a case study from the apennine seismic belt italy 1 the southern apennines range of italy presents significant challenges for active fault detection due to the complex structural setting inherited from previous contractional tectonics coupled to very recent middle pleistocene onset and slow slip rates of active normal faults as shown by the irpinia fault source of a m6 9 earthquake in 1980 major faults might have small cumulative deformation and subtle geomorphic expression a multidisciplinary study including morphological tectonic paleoseismological and geophysical investigations has been carried out across the extensional monte aquila fault a poorly known structure that similarly to the irpinia fault runs across a ridge and is weakly expressed at the surface by small scarps warps the joint application of shallow reflection profiling seismic and electrical resistivity tomography and physical logging of cored sediments has proved crucial for proper fault detection because performance of each technique was markedly different and very dependent on local geologic conditions geophysical data clearly 1 image a fault zone beneath suspected warps 2 constrain the cumulative vertical slip to only 25 30 m 3 delineate colluvial packages suggesting coseismic surface faulting episodes paleoseismological investigations document at least three deformation events during the very late pleistocene 20 ka and holocene the clue to surface rupturing episodes together with the fault dimension inferred by geological mapping and microseismicity distribution suggest a seismogenic potential of m6 3 our study provides the second documentation of a major active fault in southern italy that as the irpinia fault does not bound a large intermontane basin but it is nested within the mountain range weakly modifying the landscape this demonstrates that standard geomorphological approaches are insufficient to define a proper framework of active faults in this region more in general our applications have wide methodological implications for shallow imaging in complex terrains because they clearly illustrate the benefits of combining electrical resistivity and seismic techniques the proposed multidisciplinary methodology can be effective in regions characterized by young and or slow slipping active faults

three dimensional vp and vp vs structure at loma prieta california from local earthquake tomography p and s p times from local earthquakes and p times from explosions at seismic stations in the vicinity of the 1989 loma prieta earthquake are inverted simultaneously to produce three dimensional images of vp and vp vs structure along the rupture zone the results confirm the presence of the major heterogeneities identified in previous studies using p waves only including high vp along the rupture in areas of significant slip and a low velocity wedge along the san andreas at the se edge of the rupture a change in rock properties evidenced by a significant vp vs increase equal to a 30 poisson s ratio increase from the middle crust to the upper crust may have been responsible for the upward termination of the main shock rupture we speculate that the deep high vp body that lies along the se portion of the rupture zone consists of two bodies based on model results indicating that the sw part of the body has relatively high vp vs while the ne part has relatively low vp vs

neogene quaternary tectonic evolution of the southern apennines 1 in this paper we present a study of a segment of the southern apennine mountain belt which extends from the pollino mountain range to the south and the sele valley to the north combining regional data and structural information with the results based on the interpretation of several seismic reflection lines and many deep well logs three regional cross sections have been constructed the cross sections highlight the overall architecture of the orogenic belt which is constituted by a thin tectonic layer of allochthonous nappes represented by remnants of the neotethyan accretionary wedge e g liguride and sicilide units resting above a thick imbricated thrust belt this latter comprises distinct units represented by platform carbonates western platform monte alpi costamolina and tempa rossa units and pelagic basin domains lagonegro campomaggiore and faeto units deriving from the late tortonian quaternary deformation of the adria paleomargin the restoration of the three cross sections furnished information on the primary geometry of the adria paleomargin which was characterized by the occurrence of a large platform domain dissected by distinct pelagic basins with complex and irregular margins represented by pelagic embayments and platform promontories developed during the mesozoic and the late cretaceous tertiary times the reconstructed geometry of the paleomargin provided moreover useful insights to evaluate the mode of deformation and the rates of shortening of the thrust belt and to explain the neogene stratigraphy of the distinct platform domains the mode of deformation of this portion of the southern apennines was dominated by the occurrence of crustal thrusts located along previous weakness zones represented by the boundaries between platform and pelagic domains these crustal thrusts caused the complete closure of the basin areas and the direct overthrusting of the different buoyant platform domains with contractional rates characterized by values ranging from 3 1 to 4 3 cm yr finally a geodynamic model in which the southern apennine mountain belt is considered the result of lateral extrusion produced by the indentation of the pelagian block and by the consequent opening of the tyrrhenian sea is also proposed

dawson tephra a widespread 29 ka marker bed in a marine core from patton seamount off the alaska peninsula and its potential marine terrestrial correlation

the italian cmt dataset from 1977 to the present abstract the ingv harvard european mediterranean regional centroid moment tensor rcmt catalog collects solutions routinely computed since 1997 for earthquakes with moderate magnitude 4 5 m 5 5 in the mediterranean region the database represents an extension to smaller magnitudes of the harvard global cmt catalog based on analysis of seismograms recorded at regional distance and modeling of intermediate period surface waves the catalog includes about 600 events 200 of which in the italian region this study extends the catalog back in time for the italian region as long as made possible by available digital data i e since 1977 with the same analysis and inversion method used for current seismicity as a result we present here 65 new moment tensors for years between 1977 and 1997 these solutions represent 45 of the total number of events analyzed the existing seismograms being often too scarce to allow a stable solution the new dataset includes events in many seismic zones where moderate seismicity had previously been scarcely documented e g the po plain the central to southern apennines and the adriatic sea the complete dataset including previously determined rcmts and cmts represents the seismic deformation in the italian area during the last 25 years

surface rupture of the 1857 southern italian earthquake in october 1862 robert mallet published an extensive study of a large earthquake that occurred on 16 december 1857 150 km south east of naples this event is one of the most destructive ever recorded in italy although continental earthquakes of similar size are almost invariably associated with surface faulting mallet did not identify any surface rupture and subsequent workers have also failed to find surface traces using satellite images and aerial photographs as a guide we examined two prominent quaternary normal fault systems in the field flanking the val d agri and the val di diano both trend nw se and dip to the sw the distribution of damage suggests that one or both moved in 1857 on one fault segment in val d agri we found a 2 5 m high scarp whose youthfulness and height suggest it is due to the 1857 earthquake comparison of the observed slip with rates derived from geomorphic evidence suggests a recurrence time for 1857 type events of about 3000 years while the new data we provide are consistent with the event having a magnitude of ms 7 0 there are also grounds for supposing it might have been bigger

the 7 may 2001 induced seismic event in the ekofisk oil field north sea 1 a moderate size seismic event on 7 may 2001 was strongly felt on platforms in the ekofisk oil field in the southern north sea but did not cause damage to platforms or wells we combined near and far field observations to develop a consistent source model and to determine whether the event was induced seismic data placed the epicenter inside the ekofisk field and suggested a shallow source depth based on spectral and moment tensor analysis gps data from the ekofisk platforms displayed permanent vertical and horizontal movement due to the event a topographic bulge in the sea bottom revealed by differential bathymetry data and overpressure in the overburden in the northeastern part of the field detected only after the event had been caused by unintentional water injection that started in 1999 the injection pressure and rate were sufficient to raise the overburden pressure gauge and compaction data ruled out that the event occurred at reservoir level which was further supported by unaffected production rates and absence of well failure we therefore conclude that the event occurred in the overburden at less than 3 km depth initially this appeared unlikely on account of very low shear strength of the overburden clay rich shale and mud rocks the seismic event was induced owing to stress changes caused by water injection the event possibly initiated on the northern flank of the field near the water injector and may have involved flexure of the overburden into the depression bowl in the rest of the field moment tensor analysis is consistent with a pure double couple source we suggest that slip occurred on the near horizontal rather than along the near vertical nodal plane stress drop was low and owing to the low overburden shear strength the event released less energy than a typical stress drop event with similar source dimensions

evidence for water filled cracks in earthquake source regions 1 we identify lowered vp vs ratios near earthquake source regions in southern california using observations from a seismic tomography model and high resolution local vp vs estimates using waveform cross correlation data from within similar event clusters the median tomographic vp vs ratio is 1 716 0 008 at all the relocated crustal earthquake locations compared to the background median value of 1 729 0 007 for the tomography model although the error estimates overlap slightly the median in situ vp vs ratio of 1 673 0 022 within the similar event clusters suggests that tomographic studies are overestimating vp vs at source regions interpretation of vp vs anomalies is complicated by the scatter in values obtained for individual clusters and in comparisons to absolute vp and vs velocities in the tomography model however the low vp vs ratios measured for the seismicity clusters are hard to explain with known rocks and suggest the presence of water filled cracks with several percent porosity in earthquake source regions in southern california which likely has an effect on faulting and earthquake activity

three dimensional earthquake locations and upper crustal structure of the sannio matese region southern italy abstract the sannio matese region is one of the most seismically active regions of italy and has been struck by large historical earthquakes at present the area is characterized by low magnitude background seismicity and small seismic sequences following m 4 main events in this paper we show vp and vp vs models and 3d locations for a complete set of earthquakes occurring in the period 1991 2001 we observe a significant crustal heterogeneity with large scale east verging high vp fault related folds stacked by the pliocene compression the relocated earthquakes cluster along a 70 east dipping nw striking plane located at the border of the high vp thrust units normal fault earthquakes related to the young and active extension occur within these high vp zones interpreted as high strength material we expect large future earthquakes to occur within these high vp zones actually characterized by low magnitude seismicity at their borders

deep structure of the southern apennines italy thin skinned or thick skinned 1 the deep structure of the southern apennines sa accretionary wedge is still debated since industrial seismic reflection and well data provide reliable constraints only to a depth of about 10 km as a consequence two directly linked questions regard 1 the shortening in the accretionary prism particularly within the buried apulian thrust units and 2 the degree of involvement of the lower plate basement i e the apulian crystalline basement to address these issues we have constructed a regional section along a recently released deep seismic reflection profile crop 04 which intersects the entire sa the resulting cross section adequately constrained to a depth of about 15 km has been framed in a geodynamic scenario characterized by the eastward roll back of the westward subducting apulo adriatic lithosphere on the basis of this section we speculate on the deep structure building both thin and thick skinned thrust models a cross check of these end members models against documented tectonic geophysical and geochemical features shows that the thin skinned model is generally more consistent with the available data the development of basement slices with thicknesses of tens of kilometers is unlikely while it remains possible that the apulian basement could have been involved with its upper few kilometers in the thin skinned model the total shortening of the allochthonous units i e apennine and apulian carbonate platforms and lagonegro basin is estimated to be greater than 280 300 km some 90 km of shortening can be attributed to the apulian thrust units

stratigraphic architecture and quaternary evolution of the val d agri intermontane basin southern apennines italy abstract the sedimentary record of the val d agri basin is of great importance for understanding the quaternary tectonic activity and climatic variability in the southern apennines changes in tectonic controls sediment supply and climatic input have been identified the interval from 56 to 43 ka was associated with asymmetric subsidence restricted to the north eastern actively faulted margin of the basin and development of axial braided river and transverse alluvial fan systems short lasting mediterranean type pedogenesis between 43 and 32 ka mis stage 3 coexisted with progradation aggradation of the southern alluvial fan deposits and southwards tilting of the basin floor aggradation ended with consumption of accommodation space after 32 ka during a subsequent stage of decline of vegetation cover possibly as a consequence of climatic cooling probably mis stage 2 active progradation of alluvial fans occurred breakthrough of the basin threshold and entrenchment of the drainage network must therefore be attributed to a latest pleistocene to holocene age the first stages of basin opening and fill predating 56 ka have only been inferred by stratigraphic considerations the earliest lacustrine sedimentation should be middle pleistocene or older in age the following south eastward basin widening allowed progradation of alluvial fan systems which completely filled the lacustrine area tentatively late middle pleistocene pedogenesis in mediterranean like climate conditions caused the final development of a highly mature fersiallitic paleosol at the top of the fan surfaces in areas of morpho tectonic stability plausibly during mis stage 5 the study results demonstrate the potential of applying a multidisciplinary approach in an intermontane continental settings marked by a relative rapid and constant tectonic subsidence and a high rate of sediment supply during the pleistocene glacial interglacial cycles

relations among fault behavior subsurface geology and three dimensional velocity models the development of three dimensional p wave velocity models for the regions surrounding five large earthquakes in california has lead to the recognition of relations among fault behavior and the material properties of the rocks that contact the fault at seismogenic depths regions of high moment release appear to correlate with high seismic velocities whereas rupture initiation or termination may be associated with lower seismic velocities these relations point toward a physical understanding of why faults are divided into segments that can fail independently an understanding that could improve our ability to predict earthquakes and strong ground motion

active tectonics of the adriatic region from gps and earthquake slip vectors 1 to investigate the kinematics of the adriatic region we integrate continuous and episodic gps measurements with mw 4 5 earthquake slip vectors selected from the regional centroid moment tensor catalogue coherent motion of gps sites in the po valley in apulia and in the hyblean plateau allows us to estimate geodetically constrained angular velocities for these regions the predictions of the gps inferred angular velocities are compared with the earthquake slip vectors showing that the seismically expressed deformation at the microplate boundaries is consistent with the observed geodetic motion the remarkable consistency between geodetic seismological and geological evidence of active tectonics suggests that active deformation in the central adriatic is controlled by the relative motion between the adria and apulia microplates the microplates angular rotation rates are then compared with the rotation rates calculated with a simple block model supporting the hypotheses 1 that apulia forms a single microplate with the ionian sea and possibly with the hyblean region and 2 that adria and apulia rotate in such a way as to accommodate the eurasia nubia relative motion we suggest that the present day microplate configuration follows a recent fragmentation of the adriatic promontory that during the neogene rigidly transferred the africa motion to the orogenic belts that now surround the adriatic region

structural architecture of the central apennines interpretation of the crop 11 seismic profile from the adriatic coast to the orographic divide 1 we present an interpretation of the eastern half portion of the crop 11 line a deep reflection seismic profile 265 km long that cuts across the central apennines from the tyrrhenian coast to the adriatic coast in the study area the line cuts across a pile of thrust sheets that underwent tectonic transport between the messinian and the pleistocene in its easternmost part the line runs through the plio pleistocene deposits of the adriatic foredeep in the foreland region the crop 11 line integrates previous information on the crustal structure derived from petroleum exploration and from deep seismic sounding refraction experiments in particular the crop 11 line confirms the existence of a very thick sedimentary sequence underlying the mesozoic tertiary carbonates of the apulia platform interpreted as the paleozoic triassic sedimentary cover of a pre cambrian crystalline basement in the mountain chain where the base thrust of the orogenic wedge reaches a depth of about 25 km this sedimentary sequence appears to be the deepest geological unit incorporated in the thrust system this interpretation of the crop 11 profile suggests an unusual thin skin tectonic style implying the detachment from the original basement and the incorporation in the post tortonian tectonic wedge of a very thick paleozoic triassic sedimentary sequence possibly affected by low grade metamorphism in the lower part other new suggestions from the crop 11 seismic data concern the origin of the fucino basin one of the most remarkable plio pleistocene intramontane basins the normal faults bordering this structural depression as other important normal faults present in the central apennines e g the caramanico fault system in the majella region seem to have been controlled by gravitational collapse processes driven by uplift during crustal shortening rather than by a generalized extension subsequent to the apennine compression as usually reported in the geological literature if this interpretation is correct the strong seismic activity in correspondence to the apennine watershed may be related to the very recent increase in the structural relief caused by an out of sequence propagation of the active thrusts

upper crustal structure seismicity and pore pressure variations in an extensional seismic belt through 3 d and 4 d vp and vp vs models the example of the val d agri area southern italy 1 we use local earthquake tomography and background seismicity to investigate static and transient features of the crustal velocity structure in the val d agri southern apennines italy one of the regions in central mediterranean with the highest seismogenic potential the upper crust is dominated by two broad high velocity anticlines of the buried apulia carbonate platform ramping on two parallel high angle thrusts interpreted as preexisting inverted normal faults the deep core of the anticlines consists of very high vp up to 6 9 km s and low vp vs rocks suggesting the involvement of the apulian crystalline basement in the apennine belt these results provide valuable constraints on the apennine belt tectonic evolution supporting a thick skinned interpretation for the pliocene terminal phase of the compressional tectonics the geometry of the val d agri quaternary basin is controlled by these inherited compressive features whereas the presently active extensional tectonics barely reworked the structure we find inconsistency between the structure of the apulia carbonate platform and the location and geometry of the quaternary normal faults mapped at the surface this suggests either the immaturity of the normal faults or their secondary role in accommodating the extension we observe spatiotemporal 4 d changes of vp and vp vs models defining transient variations of pore fluid pressure in the upper crust a strong change in the vp vs ratio heralds a raise in the seismicity rate that can be related to large water level changes in a nearby artificial lake this evidence is consistent with a mechanism of reservoir induced seismicity by fluid pressure increase and pore pressure diffusion the 4 d velocity variations are confined in the shallow portion of the upper crust 3 6 km depth where fluids are stored in a highly fractured medium pore pressure fluctuations can affect the strength of fault segments favoring seismicity rate changes along the active faults and possibly promoting large future earthquakes

time dependent seismic tomography summary of methods for measuring temporal changes in seismic wave speeds in the earth seismic tomography is among those that offer the highest spatial resolution 3 d tomographic methods are commonly applied in this context by inverting seismic wave arrival time data sets from different epochs independently and assuming that differences in the derived structures represent real temporal variations this assumption is dangerous because the results of independent inversions would differ even if the structure in the earth did not change due to observational errors and differences in the seismic ray distributions the latter effect may be especially severe when data sets include earthquake swarms or aftershock sequences and may produce the appearance of correlation between structural changes and seismicity when the wave speeds are actually temporally invariant a better approach which makes it possible to assess what changes are truly required by the data is to invert multiple data sets simultaneously minimizing the difference between models for different epochs as well as the rms arrival time residuals this problem leads in the case of two epochs to a system of normal equations whose order is twice as great as for a single epoch the direct solution of this system would require twice as much memory and four times as much computational effort as would independent inversions we present an algorithm tomo4d that takes advantage of the structure and sparseness of the system to obtain the solution with essentially no more effort than independent inversions require

deep structural heterogeneities and the tectonic evolution of the abruzzi region central apennines italy revealed by microseismicity seismic tomography and teleseismic receiver functions abstract the crustal structure of central apennines italy is still poorly defined leaving uncertainties on the tectonic style thin or thick skinned responsible for the development of the thrust and fold belt the today active extension which replaced compression since early quaternary is presumably influenced by the pre existing structure that yields location and segmentation of the fault system to focus on such issues we computed p and s wave velocity models of the crust by using the independent methodologies of local earthquakes tomography and teleseismic receiver function we document strong lateral and vertical heterogeneities that define shallow imbricate sheets of the mesozoic cover that overlay exceptionally high vp and high vs bodies these bodies can be interpreted as either dolomitic or partially hydrated mafic rocks the two alternative interpretations respectively imply an ultra thick deposition of dolomitic rocks in the hanging wall of triassic normal fault or a deep exhumation of the pre mesozoic basement during the early mesozoic sin rift tectonic in both cases these bodies influenced the evolution of the thrust and fold belt very remarkably active normal faults like those ruptured during the still ongoing 2009 l aquila sequence concentrate at the border of these bodies suggesting that they have an active role in the segmentation of the normal fault system the rheological behavior of such high vp high vs bodies weak or strong is still uncertain but of utmost importance to understand the risk of future normal faulting earthquakes

the present status of reservoir induced seismicity investigations with special emphasis on koyna earthquakes abstract the status of reservoir induced seismicity ris has been reviewed periodically rothe 1968 1973 gupta and rastogi 1976 simpson 1976 packer et al 1979 in the present paper the significant work carried out during the last three years on ris is reviewed an earthquake of magnitude 5 1 2 occurred on november 14 1981 in the vicinity of aswan lake egypt 17 years after the filling started in 1964 this event occurred 4 days after the seasonal maximum in the reservoir water level and was followed by a long sequence of aftershocks another event of magnitude 4 1 2 occurred in the vicinity of aswan lake on august 20 1982 results of preliminary investigations indicate that this seismic activity is reservoir induced recent analyses of induced seismic events at nurek reservoir u s s r show that the second stage of filling during august to december 1976 increasing the maximum depth from 120 m to 200 m was accompanied by an intense burst of shallow seismic activity an outward migration from the centre of the reservoir possibly associated with diffusion of pore pressure is revealed by the temporal distribution of earthquake foci a variety of investigations including the in situ measurement of tectonic stress pore pressure permeability distribution of faults etc in addition to monitoring seismicity have been undertaken in the vicinity of the monticello reservoir south carolina the largest reservoir induced earthquake is predicted not to exceed magnitude 5 the koyna reservoir india continues to be the most outstanding example of ris three earthquakes of magnitude 5 occurred in september 1980 earthquakes of magnitude 4 occur frequently in the vicinity of koyna the latest being on february 5 1983 events that occurred during the period 1967 1973 have been relocated using better procedures and are found to be much shallower and the epicentres less diffused location of 12 earthquakes of ms 4 0 their foreshocks and aftershocks that occurred during 1973 1976 composite focal mechanism solutions and related studies are consistent with the delineation of a n s trending fault through the reservoir area in a couple of interesting studies it has been demonstrated that earthquakes of magnitude 5 0 in the koyna region are usually preceded by several magnitude 4 earthquakes in the preceding fortnight also a rate of loading of koyna reservoir of at least 40 ft week appears to be a necessary although not sufficient condition for the occurrence of magnitude 5 earthquakes smooth filling emptying appears to be the key to reduce the hazard of ris a map and a table of the reported cases of reservoir induced changes in seismicity through 1982 have been compiled