Oroville Earthquakes: Normal Faulting in the Sierra Nevada Foothills

Bufe, Charles G.; Lester, F.W.; Lahr, Karen M.; Lahr, John C.; Seekins, Linda C.; Hanks, Thomas C.

doi:10.1126/science.192.4234.72

Cited by 37 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The strike slip case is roughly intermediate. The greater magnitude and larger zone of strength drop in Figure 4b suggest that normal faulting would be most vulnerabl e, in agreement with the sense of faulting found at Oroville by Bufe et al [1976]. The dip slip models were also run for dip angles a of 45 ø and 90 ø for the steady state case.…”

Section: Pore Pressure Modelsupporting

confidence: 67%

“…The earthquake and aftershocks in Oroville, California, and the close proximity of Oroville Dam, the largest earthfill dam in the United States, gave rise to speculation that the earthquake sequence was related to the dam-reservoir system [Bufe et al, 1976]. Thus it would seem appropriate to examine the models developed in this paper for the lead and pore pressure trigger mechanisms with the Oroville situation in mind.…”

Section: Application Of the Water Weight Model To Lake Orovillementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, in four cases (Hsinfengkiang Reservoir, China, 1962; Lake Kariba, Zambia, 1963; Kremasta, Greece, 1966;and Koyna, India, 1967) the principal earthquakes had magnitudes of around 6 and were locally destructive. More recently, the high seismicity in Oroville, California, in 1975 which culminated in a damaging shock of magnitude 5.7 has also been proposed as possibly being reservoir induced [Bufe et al, 1976]. Since large dams are a critical class of structures in the evaluation of seismic hazards, it is incumbent making mechanism (2) unlikely.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Strength changes due to reservoir‐induced pore pressure and stresses and application to Lake Oroville

Bell¹,

Nur²

1978

J. Geophys. Res.

261

125

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The association of a significant increase in seismic activity with the filling of some large water reservoirs is well documented. One possible such case is the earthquake sequence at Oroville, California, in 1975. It has been suggested that this activity may be triggered on faults close to failure by the weight of the water, the increase in pore pressure, or both. Two‐dimensional half‐space models with surface loading are used to study the change in strength produced by these mechanisms for thrust, normal, and strike slip faulting. For the case of the water weight alone the strength increased across fault planes dipping as in the Oroville sequence. It is concluded that the water load alone is an unlikely mechanism. The inclusion of pore pressure effects in these models, however, is shown to be very encouraging. Using the Biot linearized quasi‐static elasticity theory for fluid‐infiltrated porous materials, two types of loaded half‐space models were studied. The first was homogeneous with respect to permeability and found to produce broad zones of weakening. The second type included a fault zone of different permeability. This model intensifies the magnitude and broadens the zone of strength drop if the fault zone is highly permeable in relation to the rest of the half space. For fault dips roughly corresponding to the Oroville situation it was found that although weakening occurs for ambient stresses favoring either thrust or normal faulting, the magnitude and breadth of strength drop were significantly greater for normal faulting: Similar effects were observed for strike slip faulting. It was also found that all types of models developed significant zones of weakening very rapidly, permitting reasonable values of permeability to be estimated. The case of the impervious reservoir bottom was examined, with significantly differing results. Just as in the permeable case, zones of weakening were initially developed. However, in the impermeable case these dissipated with time, eventually reaching the same strength distribution as that of the water weight alone. Thus with sufficiently slow impoundment the impervious reservoir may not weaken at all, whereas the permeable reservoir will continue to weaken in time. The results also show that rapid unloading may cause instantaneous crustal weakening owing to excess pore pressure. Although the models are very simplified, it is interesting to apply them to the case of Lake Oroville. Using reasonable parameters, strength drops for normal faulting of 8–14 bars were calculated, which compared favorably to the fluid injection experiments at Rangely and Matsushiro. The observed lag time between initial impoundment and seismicity yielded a permeability of 0.2 mdarcy for the homogeneous model and 20 mdarcy for the greater strength drops produced by the heterogeneous model, both of which are reasonable rock values. If the period of rapid filling is assumed to have triggered the activity, then the permeability was found to be 3.6 mdarcy for the homogeneous model and 360 mdarcy for th...

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Section: Pore Pressure Modelsupporting

confidence: 67%

Section: Application Of the Water Weight Model To Lake Orovillementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Strength changes due to reservoir‐induced pore pressure and stresses and application to Lake Oroville

Bell¹,

Nur²

1978

J. Geophys. Res.

261

125

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Early cases of reservoir-induced activity are reviewed by the National Academy of Sciences (1972), Rothe (1970), Simpson (1976), Packer et al (1977), Stuart Alexander & Mark (1976), and Snow (1982. Important recent examples of reservoir-induced seismicity that are not covered in these earlier reviews include those at Manic-3, Quebec (Leblanc & Anglin 1978); Oroville, California (Bufe et al 1976, Toppozada & Morrison 1982; Nurek, USSR (Simpson & Negmatullaev 1981, Keith et al 1982; Jocassee and Monticello, South Carolina (Talwani 1979); Toktogul, USSR ; and Aswan, Egypt (Kebeasy et a11981, Simpson et al 1982).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Triggered Earthquakes

Simpson¹

1986

Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci.

164

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“…This type of history was included to -;G, see what connection it has, if any, with the possible delayed earthquake at Oroville (Bufe et al 1976) which occurred just after such a refill. At the 3 and 6km depths below the lake the anomalous stresses at 5.5 years are less than those experienced at an earlier time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time evolution of stress under an artificial lake and its implication for induced seismicity

Withers¹,

Nyland²

1978

Can. J. Earth Sci.

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The time history of stress beneath a realistic artificial Lake with a realistic loading history on a permeable lithosphere can be calculated by solving the consolidation equations for a uniform permeable medium. The evolution of stress conditions towards or away from a Mohr-Coulomb failure envelope illustrates that highest risk of induced seismicity exists at initial loading and in some cases after a down-draw of the lake. The calculated histories depend crucially on hydrologic and geologic conditions which are very poorly known at many artificial lakes. If the formation strengths are constant in the area of the lake, consolidation theory indicates that failure is most likely under the lake in strike-slip or normal fault regimes. If failure occurs due to loading on a thrust fault regime it will occur at.an offset from the lake.L'histoire chronologique des contraintes en dessous d'un lac artificiel realiste avec une histoire realiste de chargement s i r une lithosphere permeable peut se definir en resolvant les equations de consolidation Dour un milieu verrneable uniforme. L'evolution des conditions de contraintes vers une enveloppi de rupture de Mohr-Coulomb ou en s'en eloignant illustre que le risque de sismicite le plus eleve se produit durant le remplissage initial et dans certains cas apres le drainage soudain du lac. Les histoires calculees dependent de f a~o n essentielle des conditions hydrologiques et geologiques qui sont tres ma1 connues pour plusieurs lacs artificiels. Si les resistances des formations sont constantes dans la region du lac, la theorie de la consolidation indique que la rupture est plus probable sous le lac dans un contexte de failles horizontales de decrochement ou de failles normales. Si la rupture se produit par chargement dans un contexte de failles de chevauchement, elle se produira a une certaine distance du lac.[Traduit par le journal]Can. J. EarthSci., 15, 1526EarthSci., 15, -1534EarthSci., 15, (1978

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Oroville Earthquakes: Normal Faulting in the Sierra Nevada Foothills

Cited by 37 publications

References 7 publications

Strength changes due to reservoir‐induced pore pressure and stresses and application to Lake Oroville

Strength changes due to reservoir‐induced pore pressure and stresses and application to Lake Oroville

Triggered Earthquakes

Time evolution of stress under an artificial lake and its implication for induced seismicity

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