Impact of Human Activities on Earthquake Occurrence- a Global Seismological Review
Keywords:
Anthropogenic seismicity, induced earthquakes, triggered earthquakes, fluid injection, wastewater disposal, reservoir impoundment, underground mining, hydrocarbon extraction, machine learningAbstract
Human activities, such as large-scale fluid injection and withdrawal, reservoir impoundment, underground mining, geothermal energy extraction, and hydrocarbon extraction, affect the Earth’s crust. This is due to the increasing activities that are capable of perturbing the ambient stress field and triggering earthquakes, a term called induced seismicity. The global extent and relative impact of these anthropogenic drivers remain poorly quantified. This study synthesizes worldwide seismic occurrences to evaluate the impact of human activities and interventions on earthquake occurrence. Evidence shows that anthropogenic seismicity accounts for an estimated 6 ± 2 % of global shallow seismicity and dominates Mw 3–5 event rates in several intraplate regions, notably the central United States, western Canada, and parts of China. Fluid-pressure perturbations associated with wastewater disposal and geothermal operations account for 68% of the cataloged anthropogenic events, while reservoir impoundment and mining represent 21% and 11%, respectively. Evidence reveals that policy-driven reductions in injection volumes have decreased the occurrence of seismicity within three to five years. Conversely, emerging energy technologies (e.g., carbon capture and underground hydrogen storage) pose growing seismogenic risks if unmanaged. It is concluded that human activities contribute to earthquake occurrence, yet effective intervention and policies are mitigating the probable occurrence of earthquake.
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