Aftershocks driven by a high-pressure CO2 source at depth

被引:653
作者
Miller, SA [1 ]
Collettini, C
Chiaraluce, L
Cocco, M
Barchi, M
Kaus, BJP
机构
[1] ETH, Inst Geophys, Swiss Fed Inst Technol, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland
[2] Univ Perugia, I-06100 Perugia, Italy
[3] Inst Nazl Geofis & Vulcanol, I-00143 Rome, Italy
[4] ETH, Inst Geol, Swiss Fed Inst Technol, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland
关键词
D O I
10.1038/nature02251
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
In northern Italy in 1997, two earthquakes of magnitudes 5.7 and 6 (separated by nine hours) marked the beginning of a sequence that lasted more than 30 days, with thousands of aftershocks including four additional events with magnitudes between 5 and 6. This normal-faulting sequence is not well explained with models of elastic stress transfer(1,2), particularly the persistence of hanging-wall seismicity(3) that included two events with magnitudes greater than 5. Here we show that this sequence may have been driven by a fluid pressure pulse generated from the coseismic release of a known deep source(4) of trapped high-pressure carbon dioxide (CO2). We find a strong correlation between the high-pressure front and the aftershock hypocentres over a two-week period, using precise hypocentre locations(5) and a simple model of nonlinear diffusion. The triggering amplitude (10-20 MPa) of the pressure pulse overwhelms the typical (0.1-0.2 MPa) range from stress changes in the usual stress triggering models(1,6). We propose that aftershocks of large earthquakes in such geologic environments may be driven by the coseismic release of trapped, high-pressure fluids propagating through damaged zones created by the mainshock. This may provide a link between earthquakes, aftershocks, crust/mantle degassing and earthquake-triggered large-scale fluid flow.
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页码:724 / 727
页数:4
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