Stress distribution near lake Jocassee,South Carolina

Seven months of seismic monitoring near Jocassee reservoir (impounded 1974) resulted in the detection of four clusters of earthquake activity. Composite fault plane solutions (CFPS) for each cluster indicate strike slip faulting for shallow earthquakes (<1.0 km) on the shores of the reservoir and normal faulting for deeper events (1–3 km) in the middle of the reservoir. The directions of the axes of maximum and minimum compression inferred from the CFPS were found to be NW and NE respectively and contrast with the NE and NW directions obtained by hydrofracture in a shallow well (230 m) at Bad Creek, about 10 km from the epicentral region.