On estimating the earthquake-induced changes in hydrogeological properties of the Choshuishi Alluvial Fan, Taiwan

The hydrological response of the Choshuishi alluvial fan to the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake shows that the earthquake did impact the aquifer. The possible earthquake-induced changes in hydrogeological properties were investigated in this study. First, contour maps of the hydrologic anomaly, seismic factors, and vertical ground-surface displacement were compared qualitatively. Bulls eye patterns were found on the contour maps of hydraulic conductivity, coseismic groundwater-level change and vertical ground-surface displacement but did not occur with other seismic factors. The more permeable zones of the aquifer were found to coincide with the locations of greater vertical ground-surface displacement and coseismic groundwater-level change in the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake. This indicates that the change of the hydrogeologic properties of Choshuishi alluvial fan due to the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake may have mainly occurred in the highly permeable zones. Fractal, cross semivariogram and cross correlogram analyses were performed to quantitatively measure the persistency, variability and similarity, respectively, of spatial hydrologic response, seismic factors and hydraulic conductivity. The groundwater-level change, earthquake intensity, and vertical ground-surface displacement were found to show antipersistent tendencies while other factors showed the opposite. Higher correlations were found between hydraulic conductivity and groundwater-level change in aquifers 2–1 and 2–2, and between hydraulic conductivity and vertical ground-surface displacement in aquifer 3. Changes in porosities and hydraulic conductivity were evaluated in the main aquifers of the Choshuishi alluvial fan based on the data of hydrologic anomaly and the vertical ground-surface displacement. While both approaches show that the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake has impacted the Choshuishi alluvial fan by reducing its porosity and hydraulic conductivity, these changes were not significant relative to natural variation in hydraulic conductivity.This revised version was published in May 2005 with correction to the rubric.