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Widespread groundwater-level offsets caused by the M w 5.8 Mineral, Virginia, earthquake of 23 August 2011

Evelyn A. Roeloffs·David L. Nelms·Rodney A. Sheets
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Abstract

Groundwater levels were offset in bedrock observation wells, measured by the U.S. Geological Survey or others, as far as 553 km from the M w 5.8 Mineral, Virginia (USA), earthquake on 23 August 2011. Water levels dropped as much as 0.47 m in 34 wells and rose as much as 0.15 m in 12 others. In some wells, which are as much as 213 m deep, the water levels recovered from these deviations in hours to days, but in others the water-level offset may have persisted. The groundwater-level offsets occurred in locations where the earthquake was at least weakly felt, and the maximum water-level excursion increased with felt intensity, independent of epicentral distance. Coseismic static strain from the earthquake was too small and localized to have contributed significantly to the groundwater-level offsets. The relation with intensity is consistent with ground motion from seismic waves leading to the water-level offsets. Examination of the hydrographs indicates that short-period ground motion most likely affected the permeability of the bedrock aquifers monitored by the wells.

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90° N90° S · 180° W ← longitude → 180° E
Source-reported bounding extent: 34° to 43.3333° latitude; -84° to -72° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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Evelyn A. Roeloffs, David L. Nelms, Rodney A. Sheets. 2015. Widespread groundwater-level offsets caused by the M w 5.8 Mineral, Virginia, earthquake of 23 August 2011. https://doi.org/10.1130/2014.2509(07)

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