However, the influence of Earth's surface processes on subsurface fault slip and earthquake behaviors remains poorly understood. Previous observational and modeling studies have shown that certain surface processes are capable of generating loading/unloading stresses and modulating earthquake behaviors. These include variations in atmospheric pressures (
Summary
The Salton Sea Geothermal Field (SSGF) is one of the most seismically active and geothermally productive fields in California. Here we present a detailed analysis of short-term seismicity change in SSGF from 2008 to 2013 during and right following large distant earthquakes, as well as long-term seismicity change due to geothermal productions. We first apply a GPU-based waveform matched-filter technique (WMFT) to the continuous data recorded by the Calenergy Borehole (EN) Network and detect more than 70 000 new microearthquakes than listed in the standard Southern California Seismic Network catalog. We then analyze the seismicity rate changes in the SSGF associated with transient stress fluctuations triggered by regional and large teleseismic earthquakes from 1999 to 2019. We find triggered seismicity in the SSGF following seven regional M > 5.5 earthquakes. In comparison, teleseismic earthquakes with M > 8.0 did not trigger significant seismicity rate change in the SSGF, likely indicating a frequency dependence in remote dynamic triggering. We further characterize the correlation between the long-term seismicity rate and geothermal production rates, and the temporal and spatial distribution of Guttenberg-Richter b-values inside and outside the SSGF with the newly detected catalog. The long-term seismicity shows that events with M > 1.5 are likely correlated with net production rates, while smaller events do not show any correlation. The b-values inside the SSGF are higher than those outside the SSGF, and the locations of dynamically triggered events are close to locations with high b-values.
Earthquakes are clustered in space and time. Large shallow earthquakes are typically followed by abundant seismic activity around the mainshock rupture plane, known as "aftershocks" (e.g., Utsu et al., 1995). Sometimes mainshocks are preceded by increased seismic activity also known as "foreshocks" (e.g., Abercrombie
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