Water level fluctuations due to earthquakes in Koyna-Warna region,India

Earthquakes cause a variety of hydrological phenomena, including changes in the ground water levels in bore wells. The Koyna region in the peninsular shield of India, hitherto considered stable in terms of seismic activity, has been active since 1967. More recently, the earthquakes have been localized to the newly impounded Warna reservoir, which is located south of Koyna, where a burst of seismicity occurred in 1993. The region continues to remain seismically active even after four decades. Twenty-one bore wells were drilled around the seismic source volume in the region to observe water level changes resulting from earthquake phenomena. Our studies have shown coseismic anomalous water level changes to be associated with the moderate earthquakes of April 25, 1997 and February 11, 1998. Our results show that changes in the ground water level in bore wells are correlated with micro-earthquake activity, both preceding and following moderately sized earthquakes. The results have implications in enhancing our understanding of earthquake mechanisms.