Tectonic setting and geological manifestations of the 2003 Altai earthquake

Geological and geomorphic manifestations of the source of the earthquake that occurred in the southern Gorny Altai on September 27, 2003, are described. This earthquake, the strongest over the entire history of seismological observations, caused damage to buildings and structures in the Chuya and Kurai basins and was accompanied by exposure of its source at the surface with formation of a system of seismic ruptures trending in the northwestern direction. The linear zone of seismic rupture was traced for more than 70 km on the northern slopes of the North Chuya and South Chuya ranges, and a developed network of related splays was found. The secondary (gravitational and vibrational) seismic dislocations were expressed as downfalls, landslides, and gryphons in the pleistoseist zone. These dislocations occur over an area of approximately 90 × 25 km² that broadly coincides with the region of quakes having intensities of IX–VII. The paleoseismogeological investigations performed in the source region of the 2003 earthquake have shown that seven seismic events with M = 7.0–8.0 occurred in its source over the last 5000 years with a 500-to 900-year recurrence period. The study of the tectonic setting of the earthquake source in the Gorny Altai has allowed northward tracing of the main seismically active zones of the Mongolian and Gobi Altai, where earthquakes with a magnitude M > 7.0 occurred repeatedly, in particular, during the 20th century, and combination of all mountain systems of the Greater Altai into a common high-magnitude seismotectonic province.     

Seismicity of Gujarat

Paper describes tectonics, earthquake monitoring, past and present seismicity, catalogue of earthquakes and estimated return periods of large earthquakes in Gujarat state, western India. The Gujarat region has three failed Mesozoic rifts of Kachchh, Cambay, and Narmada, with several active faults. Kachchh district of Gujarat is the only region outside Himalaya-Andaman belt that has high seismic hazard of magnitude 8 corresponding to zone V in the seismic zoning map of India. The other parts of Gujarat have seismic hazard of magnitude 6 or less. Kachchh region is considered seismically one of the most active intraplate regions of the World. It is known to have low seismicity but high hazard in view of occurrence of fewer smaller earthquakes of M????6 in a region having three devastating earthquakes that occurred during 1819 (M _w7.8), 1956 (M _w6.0) and 2001 (M _w7.7). The second in order of seismic status is Narmada rift zone that experienced a severely damaging 1970 Bharuch earthquake of M5.4 at its western end and M????6 earthquakes further east in 1927 (Son earthquake), 1938 (Satpura earthquake) and 1997 (Jabalpur earthquake). The Saurashtra Peninsula south of Kachchh has experienced seismicity of magnitude less than 6.     

1920年海原8.5级地震高烈度区滑坡编录与分布规律

发生在黄土高原的1920年12月16日的海原M_S8.5级大地震触发了大量的滑坡,这些滑坡直接造成了大量的人员伤亡。近年来,出现了一些关于本次地震触发滑坡的专题研究,然而,这些研究多是基于局部震区或者个别单体滑坡进行,极少有关于该地震触发滑坡详细全面的成果出现。这种情况已经成为了深入理解海原地震触发滑坡的规模与程度、发育规律等的障碍。本研究拟基于谷歌地球平台,采用人工目视解译方法,以海原地震高烈度区（Ⅸ~Ⅺ）为研究区,开展地震滑坡解译工作,并分析这些滑坡的分布规律与影响因子之间的关系。结果表明本次地震在Ⅸ~Ⅺ度区内触发了至少5384处滑坡,滑坡总面积为218.78 km2。滑坡密度最高的区域为Ⅸ烈度圈的北西部分。通过分析这些滑坡与地形、地震、地质等因子的关系发现,高程1700~2000 m为滑坡的高发与高易发区间;大多数滑坡集中发育在坡度15°~25°范围内,滑坡密度随着坡度的增加而显著增加;坡位越低,也就是距离河流越近,滑坡密度越大;新生代地层、尤其是第四系黄土覆盖地区是海原地震滑坡发生的主要区域,也是高易发区域。本文为探索黄土地区地震滑坡发育规律、减轻黄土地震滑坡灾害等提供了科学参考。     

Coseismic landslides triggered by the 8th August 2017 <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript>s</Subscript> 7.0 Jiuzhaigou earthquake (Sichuan,China): factors controlling their spatial distribution and implications for the seismogenic blind fault identification

On 8th August 2017, a magnitude M_s 7.0 earthquake struck the County of Jiuzhaigou, in Sichuan Province, China. It was the third M_s ≥?7.0 earthquake in the Longmenshan area in the last decade, after the 2008 M_s 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake and the 2013 M_s 7.0 Lushan earthquake. The event did not produce any evident surface rupture but triggered significant mass wasting. Based on a large set of pre- and post-earthquake high-resolution satellite images (SPOT-5, Gaofen-1 and Gaofen-2) as well as on 0.2-m-resolution UAV photographs, a polygon-based interpretation of the coseismic landslides was carried out. In total, 1883 landslides were identified, covering an area of 8.11 km², with an estimated total volume in the order of 25–30?×?10⁶ m³. The total landslide area was lower than that produced by other earthquakes of similar magnitude with strike-slip motion, possibly because of the limited surface rupture. The spatial distribution of the landslides was correlated statistically to a number of seismic, terrain and geological factors, to evaluate the landslide susceptibility at regional scale and to identify the most typical characteristics of the coseismic failures. The landslides, mainly small-scale rockfalls and rock/debris slides, occurred mostly along two NE-SW-oriented valleys near the epicentre. Comparatively, high landslide density was found at locations where the landform evolves from upper, broad valleys to lower, deep-cut gorges. The spatial distribution of the coseismic landslides did not seem correlated to the location of any known active faults. On the contrary, it revealed that a previously-unknown blind fault segment—which is possibly the north-western extension of the Huya fault—is the plausible seismogenic fault. This finding is consistent with what hypothesised on the basis of field observations and ground displacements.     

Landslides induced by the April 2007 Aysén Fjord earthquake, Chilean Patagonia

On the 21st of April 2007, the Aysén Fjord earthquake (Mw 6.2) in southern Chile (45.3° S, 73.0° W) triggered hundreds of landslides in the epicentral area along the fjord coast and surroundings. Some of these landslides induced large tsunami waves within the fjord causing fatalities and damaging several salmon farms, the most important economic activity of the area. The landslides included rock slides and avalanches, rock falls, shallow soil and soil–rock slides, and debris flows. The earthquake was the climax of a seismic swarm that began 3 months earlier. The seismicity is associated with tectonic activity along the Liquiñe–Ofqui fault zone (LOFZ), a major structural feature of the region. The earthquake-induced landslides were mapped and classified from field observations and remote sensing analysis. The landslide areas and epicentral distances are within the expected range for the earthquake magnitude according to worldwide data, while the position of landslides on the slopes strongly suggests topographic amplification effects in triggering the failures. The location of the landslides is also clearly related to some of the main fault branches of the LOFZ. The seismic event has configured a new situation of seismic and landslide hazard in the Aysén region and along the LOFZ, where the presence of towns and economic infrastructure along the coasts of several fjords constitutes a potential risk that was not considered before this seismic event.     

Interpretation of landslide distribution triggered by the 2005 Northern Pakistan earthquake using SPOT 5 imagery

The 2005 northern Pakistan earthquake (magnitude 7.6) of 8 October 2005 occurred in the northwestern part of the Himalayas. We interpreted landslides triggered by the earthquake using black-and-white 2.5-m-resolution System Pour l’Observation de la Terre 5 (SPOT 5) stereo images. As a result, the counts of 2,424 landslides were identified in the study area of 55 by 51 km. About 79% or 1,925 of the landslides were small (less than 0.5 ha in area), whereas 207 of the landslides (about 9%) were large (1 ha and more in area). Judging from our field survey, most of the small landslides are shallow rock falls and slides. However, the resolution and whitish image in the photos prevented interpreting the movement type and geomorphologic features of the landslide sites in detail. It is known that this earthquake took place along preexisting active reverse faults. The landslide distribution was mapped and superimposed on the crustal deformation detected by the environmental satellite/synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data, active faults map, geological map, and shuttle radar topography mission data. The landslide distribution showed the following characteristics: (1) Most of the landslides occurred on the hanging-wall side of the Balakot–Garhi fault; (2) greater than one third of the landslides occurred within 1 km from the active fault; (3) the greatest number of landslides (1,147 counts), landslide density (3.2 counts/km²), and landslide area ratio (2.3 ha/km²) was found within Miocene sandstone and siltstone, Precambrian schist and quartzite, and Eocene and Paleocene limestone and shale, respectively; (4) there was a slight trend that large landslides occurred on vertically convex slopes rather than on concave slopes; furthermore, large landslides occurred on steeper (30° and more) slopes than on gentler slopes; (5) many large landslides occurred on slopes facing S and SW directions, which is consistent with SAR-detected horizontal dominant direction of crustal deformation on the hanging wall.     

汶川、芦山和鲁甸地震滑坡分布规律对比研究

汶川M_S8.0级地震、芦山M_S7.0级地震和鲁甸M_S6.5级地震均引发了大量的滑坡灾害。由于震级差异和地质地形条件的不同,地震滑坡分布情况有较大区别。本文综合已有的研究成果,从地震、地质和地貌3个方面,对比分析了地震滑坡的分布规律。结果表明:（1）3次地震滑坡数量和密度随着PGA和震级的增加而增加。汶川和鲁甸地震随烈度的增加,滑坡数量呈现递增的趋势。但芦山地震在较低烈度区也发育着大量滑坡。（2）断层影响滑坡分布的最大距离随着震级的增加而增加。在最大影响距离0.2倍的范围内,汶川地震分布有80%的滑坡,而其他两次地震仅30%。此外,汶川地震滑坡数量随断层距离呈指数衰减关系。（3）地震滑坡的分布受到地形的强烈影响。Ⅶ度及以上烈度区地形切割深度越大,地震触发的滑坡集中分布区域相对高差越大。同时,滑坡集中发育的坡度会随之增加。切割深度越大,地震滑坡更易发生在地势较陡的山脊或者上坡处,这可能与地形放大效应有关。     

Observations from the 12 October 1992 Dahshour earthquake in Egypt

An earthquake of local magnitude 5.3 (duration magnitudeM _d ) on the Richter Scale occurred at Dahshour, 18 km south of Cairo, Egypt, on Monday, 12 October 1992 at 3:09 pm (local time). Numerous aftershocks followed the main event during the following weeks with magnitude up to 4.3. The earthquake occurred in an area that has had no recent seismic activity, and affected many cities in Egypt. Many buildings and monuments were severely damaged or collapsed. Modern concrete skeletal structures suffered minor nonstructural damage. Earthquake physical damage was estimated at about one billion U.S. Dollars. The severity of the damage was mainly due to poor construction materials and detailing, aging, inferior workmanship, and inadequate maintenance. Egypt was generally considered to be an area of moderate seismic activity. In 1989, earthquake provisions were first introduced in the Egyptian Code of Practice for Reinforced Concrete Structures only. The earthquake clearly showed the urgent need for an assessment and rehabilitation program to mitigate seismic risk hazard in existing structures. In addition, future development planning, and earthquake preparedness strategies should implement lessons learned from the event. In this paper, an overview discussion about the observations from the 12 October earthquake is presented.     

Spatial characteristics of landslides triggered by the 2015 M<Subscript>w</Subscript> 7.8 (Gorkha) and M<Subscript>w</Subscript> 7.3 (Dolakha) earthquakes in Nepal

High magnitude earthquakes trigger numerous landslides and their occurrences are mainly controlled by terrain parameters. We created an inventory of 15,551 landslides with a total area of 90.2 km² triggered by the 2015 M_w 7.8 (Gorkha) and M_w 7.3 (Dolakha) earthquakes in Nepal, through interpretation of very high resolution satellite images (e.g. WorldView, Pleiades, Cartosat-1 and 2, Resourcesat-2). Our spatial analysis of landslide occurrences with ground acceleration, slope, lithology and surface defomation indicated ubiquitous control of steep slope on landslides with ground acceleration as the trigger. Spatial distribution of landslides shows increasing frequency away from the Gorkha earthquake epicentre up to 130 km towards east, dropping sharply thereafter, which is an abnormal phenomenon of coseismic landslides. Landslides are laterally concentrated in three zones which matches well with the seismic rupture evolution of Gorkha earthquake, as reported through teleseismic measurements.     

Vertical acceleration effect on landsides triggered by the Wenchuan earthquake,China

The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake with Ms8.0 triggered extensive throwing-pattern landslides in the area within or near the seismic faults. The resultant landslides from this earthquake brought to the fore the effect of vertical earthquake acceleration on landslide occurrence. The pseudostatic analysis and the dynamic response on landslide stability due to the Wenchuan earthquake are studied with the Chengxi (West Town) catastrophic landslide used as a case study. The results show that the epicenter distance is an important factor which affects the vertical acceleration and thus the stability of landslide. Also, the vertical acceleration was found to have a significant impact on the FOS of landslide if the earthquake magnitude is quite large. Within the seismic fault, the amplitude effect of vertical acceleration is very dominant with the FOS of landslide, for vertical acceleration ranging from positive to negative, having a variation of 25 %. The variation of FOS of landslide for vertical acceleration ranging from positive to negative are 15 and 5 % for landslides near seismic fault and outside seismic fault, respectively. For landslide with a slope angle <45°, the FOS of landslide with both horizontal and vertical accelerations is significantly greater than the one without vertical acceleration. Further, the results computed from both the pseudostatic method and dynamic analysis reveal that the FOS during the earthquake varied significantly whether vertical acceleration is considered or not. The results from this study explain why lots of throwing-pattern catastrophic landslides occurred within 10 km of the seismic fault in the Wenchuan earthquake.     

Analysis of a spatial distribution of landslides triggered by the 2004 Chuetsu earthquakes of Niigata Prefecture, Japan

On October 23, 2004, a series of powerful earthquakes with a maximum M _w = 6.6 located near the western coast of northern Honshu struck parts of northern Japan, particularly Niigata Prefecture; these earthquakes were known as the Chuetsu event. Thousands of landslides, as a secondary geotechnical hazard associated with these earthquakes, were triggered over a broad area; these landslides were of almost all types. The purpose of this study was to detect correlations between landslide occurrence with geologic and geomorphologic conditions, slope geometry, and earthquake parameters using two indexes based on Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In the study area, the landslide–area ratio (LAR), which is defined as the percentage of the area affected by landslides, was 2.9%, and the landslide concentration (LC), the number of landslides per square kilometer, was 4.4 landslides/km², which is much more than other reported cases of seismic activity with the same magnitude. This was possibly due to heavy rainfall just before the Chuetsu earthquakes. Statistical analyses show that LAR has a positive correlation with slope steepness and distance from the epicenter, while LC is inversely correlated with distance from the epicenter. The Wanazu Formation had the most concentrated landslide activity, followed by the Kawaguchi, Ushigakubi, Shiroiwa and Oyama Formations, although the Wanazu Formation occupied only 4.5% of the total area of geological units. With 8.2% of the area affected by seismic landslides, the Kawaguchi Formation had the highest LAR. It was followed by the Shiroiwa, Ushigakubi and Wanazu Formations with LAR ranging from 4.6% to 6.0%. For lots of geological subunits, landslides are more frequent in a range of slope angles between 15° and 40°. The susceptibility to landsliding of each geologic unit was thus evaluated to correlate with slope steepness. It was also noted that the effects of the earthquakes were made far worse by antecedent rainfall conditions induced by a␣typhoon, and further research emphasizing the role of antecedent rainfall was discussed.     

Preliminary investigation of some large landslides triggered by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, Sichuan Province, China

The M _s 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake or “Great Sichuan Earthquake” occurred at 14:28 p.m. local time on 12 May 2008 in Sichuan Province, China. Damage by earthquake-induced landslides was an important part of the total earthquake damage. This report presents preliminary observations on the Hongyan Resort slide located southwest of the main epicenter, shallow mountain surface failures in Xuankou village of Yingxiu Town, the Jiufengchun slide near Longmenshan Town, the Hongsong Hydro-power Station slide near Hongbai Town, the Xiaojiaqiao slide in Chaping Town, two landslides in Beichuan County-town which destroyed a large part of the town, and the Donghekou and Shibangou slides in Qingchuan County which formed the second biggest landslide lake formed in this earthquake. The influences of seismic, topographic, geologic, and hydro-geologic conditions are discussed.     

从昭通地震破坏实例看山区地震地面破坏特点

1974年5月11日3时25分,东经104度,北纬28.2度我国云南省昭通境内发生M=7.1地震。宏观震中为大关县以北,木杆公社钟(杜)家坪附近。震中烈度为IX度。震区为拔海2000米的滇东北高原地区,地面经受强烈切刻,山高坡陡,尤其震区西部,地形尤显陡峻。地形的坡度一般均在30°以上,主要河流的坡降平均为2.53%。该区地质情况比较复杂。地层分布主要为二迭纪阳新统灰岩,峨眉山玄武岩,三迭纪飞仙关砂页岩等等。     

地震诱发滑坡的快速评估方法研究:以2017年MS 7.0级九寨沟地震为例

山岳地区强烈地震诱发的滑坡、崩塌等地震次生灾害在造成严重人员伤亡的同时,对社会经济的发展也构成了严重威胁。而震后滑坡分布的快速评估,尤其是滑坡重灾区的确定,则可为救援工作的科学部署和有效开展提供决策支持并减轻地震灾害的损失。2017年8月8日发生于四川省阿坝州九寨沟风景区的MS 7.0级地震诱发了大量的滑坡、崩塌灾害,造成了一定的人员伤亡和财产损失,凸显出进行震后滑坡快速评估的重要性。本文通过对九寨沟地震灾区震前、震后“北京二号”遥感影像的对比分析,解译此次地震诱发的滑坡分布概况。尽管震后影像在局部区域有云团覆盖,影响了震区滑坡解译的详尽程度,但是对于主要发生的滑坡地震高烈度地区(≥Ⅻ度),本文所用影像基本满足解译要求。本文共解译出194个面积大于700 m2的滑坡,这些滑坡主要沿地震烈度长轴方向分布,灾害体平面面积达5.6 km2,影响范围超过600 km2。通过对九寨沟地震灾区的地形、岩性及地震动加速度进行分析,本文采用Newmark刚体滑块模型对该区震后滑坡危险区域进行了预测。预测结果按照危险程度不同划分为5个级别,即高度危险、较高危险、中度危险、较低危险和低度危险。滑坡分布与评估结果呈现出较好的一致性:解译的滑坡主要分布在评估为滑坡高度危险的区域,表明本文所采用方法的有效性。本文对该方法的局限性也进行了讨论,并提出改进建议。     

GIS技术在区域地震滑坡危险性预测中的应用以龙陵地震滑坡为例

地震滑坡是一种有着严重危害的次生地震灾害形式,形成机制复杂,涉及因素众多。运用G IS丰富的空间分析功能,对地震滑坡的影响因素进行研究,并进行潜在地震滑坡区的预测,是地震滑坡研究领域的一种新的发展趋势。本文在对1976年龙陵地震引发的地震滑坡分布特征研究的基础上,结合前人有关中国西南地区地震滑坡特征的研究成果,应用G IS对该区潜在地震滑坡危险区进行了预测。     

Source Parameters of Old Earthquakes: Semi-Automatic Digitization of Analog Records and Seismic Moment Assessment

Recovering seismic information contained in old analog records could increase our knowledge of seismic source characteristics and the seismicity of a region. This is particularly important in zones with low to moderate seismicity.To extract the available information, it is necessary to digitize the seismic records. This is not an easy task especially owing to the generally poor quality of the original records, with illegible or missing parts. However some exceptions were found in the records of a few seismological stations in Germany, Sweden and France.This paper presents an example of the recovering of source parameters and can be divided in two parts: the first one presents a simple semi-automatic technique for digitization of old analog seismic records, developed using commercial software on a PC; the second part describes the methodology of assessing the seismic moment, using empirical and theoretical relations, as well as the seismic source dimensions.The earthquake selected to illustrate this procedure is the 23 April 1909 Benavente (Portugal) earthquake. This earthquake occurred in the Lower Tagus Valley region and caused great destruction in the meizoseismal area. It is the biggest earthquake that occurred during this century in the central part of the country and its magnitude has been estimated between 6.6 and 7.6.The digitization procedure allowed the recovery of seismic information contained in old analog records, in particular, the seismic moment estimation. The results obtained indicated that 7.6 was a very high value for the magnitude of the 23 April 1909 earthquake, suggesting that the magnitude reported in the Portuguese catalogue is overestimated. The estimated moment magnitude is 6.0.     

基于简化Newmark模型的长白山天池火山诱发崩塌滑坡危险性评价

火山喷发过程所伴生的地震活动会诱发大量的崩塌滑坡次生灾害,其所造成的人员财产损失甚至超过火山活动本身。2002年以来长白山天池火山区地震活动的异常,表明火山深部的岩浆正在发生变化,天池火山存在喷发的危险。地震崩塌滑坡的危险性区划是降低生命财产损失的有效手段。将火山伴生地震作为崩塌滑坡灾害的诱发因素并据此设置地震参数,利用简化的Newmark累积位移模型,考虑地形因素对地震的放大效应,对长白山地区天池火山喷发下次生崩塌、滑坡灾害的危险性进行评价。通过探讨不同地震震级下的危险性分区结果,认为不同地震参数的设置对危险性分区结果没有影响。将研究区划分为极高、高、中等、低、极低等5个危险等级,其中,极高危险区主要分布在3个区域:以天池口为中心,40km为半径的范围内;沿江乡—两江镇—松江镇条带区域;长白县境内鸭绿江沿岸区域。     

Back-analysis of a seismically induced highway embankment failure during the 1999 Düzce earthquake

An earthquake of magnitude 7.2 on the Richter scale occurred on 12 November 1999 in the Düzce-Bolu region of Turkey. The region was also hit approximately 3 months before during the devastating Kocaeli earthquake of 17 August 1999. Besides high casualties and damage to various engineering structures and buildings, slope and embankment failures on the highway and the country roads occurred. In this study, the authors are concerned with the back-analysis of an embankment failure that occurred on the four lanes E-5 highway connecting Ankara to Gstanbul at Bakacak in the Bolu Province during the 1999 Düzce earthquake. Both pseudo-dynamic and dynamic limiting equilibrium methods are used to back analyse the conditions for the initiation of failure and also displacement responses of the embankment during the earthquake shaking. After having given a brief summary of the investigations on the post-failure state, the geology and geotechnical characteristics of the site, and the dynamic limiting equilibrium method developed and used for analyses are described. The results of the back-analysis based on a pseudo-dynamic approach, revealed that the maximum ground acceleration to initiate the failure of the embankment was probably about 0.125 g. On the other hand, the application of a method for computing the displacement and velocity responses of the failed embankment showed that the failure was possible when the embankment was subjected to ground accelerations similar to that recorded at the Düzce station. In addition, the computations also revealed that the time history of accelerations could be very important for the failure of slopes and embankments.     

2013年7月22日岷县漳县MS6.6级地震滑坡编录与空间分布规律分析

2013年7月22日,中国甘肃省岷县漳县交界地区发生MS6.6级地震。地震触发了大量的滑坡,主要类型为小型的黄土崖崩、滑、倾,还有一些深层连贯型滑坡、大型土质流滑、侧向滑移等地震滑坡类型。本文主要基于地震滑坡野外考察与高分辨卫星影像人工目视解译方法,开展本次地震触发滑坡的编录图制作工作,并基于编录成果开展地震滑坡空间分布规律分析工作。滑坡编录结果表明此次地震至少触发了2330处滑坡。基于GIS平台下开展了地震滑坡与地形控制因子、地质控制因子与地震控制因子的关系统计。结果表明岷县漳县地震滑坡受地形因子的控制作用较小; 受地层岩性的控制作用较大。其中1401处滑坡(占总滑坡的60.13%)分布在下伏基岩为古近系下统地层(Eb)砾岩与砂岩的区域内,其中滑坡密度是所有地层分类中最高的,达到22.78个km-2。地震滑坡与PGA的统计关系并不明显。地震滑坡主要集中在一个与发震断层走向一致的长条形区域内,长约14km,宽约5km。该区域内滑坡数量为1864个,占所有滑坡数量的80%,表明了岷县漳县地震滑坡空间分布的密集特征。文章获得的基于地震事件的区域滑坡编录成果是后续地震滑坡相关科学研究的重要基础与核心数据; 空间分布规律分析成果可为地震区滑坡与泥石流防灾减灾提供科学参考。     

Continued seismic activity at the Koyna reservoir site, India

Following the impounding of the Shivaji Sager Lake in 1962, tremors became prevalent in the Koyna region, considered previously to be aseismic. During ensuing years the tremor frequency appears to have been dependent on the rate of increase of water level, maximum water level reached, and the period for which high levels were retained. This culminated in a burst of seismic activity from September 1967 to January 1968 following the record water levels in the reservoir and included the earthquake of September 13, 1967 with magnitude 5.5 and the damaging December 10, 1967 earthquake of magnitude 6.0. During the next five years water levels were kept low and no significant earthquakes occurred subsequent to the October 29, 1968 earthquake of magnitude 5.

The reservoir was filled to maximum capacity during September 1973 and this was followed by a conspicuous increase in seismic activity which included an earthquake of magnitude 5.1 on October 17, 1973. However, seismic activity during 1973 was much less severe than that of 1967. This relative decrease in seismicity may indicate that (a) the “threshhold level” for relatively large magnitude earthquakes had increased; (b) a major portion of the accumulated strains had been released; and/or (c) the importance of the longer period of high loading in 1967. Similar observations have been made at other seismically active reservoir sites.