A Temporary Network For Seismological Monitoring In West-Saxony: First Results

Since December 1997 a network of 10 autonomously recording digital seismic stations operates in W-Saxony to monitor microseismic activity generated by tectonic movements in the Gera-Jáchymov fault zone and induced by the flooding of the uranium mining area near Aue. Further goals to be followed with these data are the in situ verification of engineering seismological parameters and the study of the transmission properties of seismic waves across the Gera-Jáchymov fault zone to improve seismic risk evaluation. So far 19 tectonic and more than 50 induced events have been located and source parameters have been determined. Event clusters near Zwickau and within the Aue mining area could be spatially resolved with a master event technique. The cluster near Zwickau occured on a common fault plane striking parallel to the Gera-Jáchymov fault zone and dipping at an angle of about 60° towards ENE. The induced events near Aue occured within a volume of approximately 5 km ³ . The majority of these events were located in the granite body underneath the mining area. Fault plane solutions show a variety of focal mechanisms with no clear relation to the regional stress field.