TY - JOUR
T1 - Fluid-driven seismicity in a stable tectonic context
T2 - The Remiremont fault zone, Vosges, France
AU - Audin, Laurence
AU - Avouac, Jean Philippe
AU - Flouzat, Mireille
AU - Plantet, Jean Louis
PY - 2002/3/15
Y1 - 2002/3/15
N2 - Some relocated seismic events, which have small magnitudes (ML < 4.8), are found to align along a 40 km-long fault zone flanking the southern Vosges Massif to the west. It joins to the south with the epicentral area of the historical 1682 earthquake (Io = VIII MSK). The Remiremont cluster was preceded by a period of seismic coalescence and triggered outward of bilateral seismic migration. The 1984 seismic crisis developed along a well defined 3 km-long vertical plane. In both cases, migration rates of the order of 5-10 km/yr over 30 km-long distances are determined. This pattern requires some mechanism of stress interaction which must act over distances of the order of 1 to 20 km within years. Given the low tectonic activity and the magnitudes of the events the stress transfer cannot result from co-seismic elastic loading or from transient strain at depth. We suggest that the seismic activity reflect rupture of asperities driven by fluid-flow in a zone of relatively high permeability.
AB - Some relocated seismic events, which have small magnitudes (ML < 4.8), are found to align along a 40 km-long fault zone flanking the southern Vosges Massif to the west. It joins to the south with the epicentral area of the historical 1682 earthquake (Io = VIII MSK). The Remiremont cluster was preceded by a period of seismic coalescence and triggered outward of bilateral seismic migration. The 1984 seismic crisis developed along a well defined 3 km-long vertical plane. In both cases, migration rates of the order of 5-10 km/yr over 30 km-long distances are determined. This pattern requires some mechanism of stress interaction which must act over distances of the order of 1 to 20 km within years. Given the low tectonic activity and the magnitudes of the events the stress transfer cannot result from co-seismic elastic loading or from transient strain at depth. We suggest that the seismic activity reflect rupture of asperities driven by fluid-flow in a zone of relatively high permeability.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0037088846&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1029/2001GL012988
DO - 10.1029/2001GL012988
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0037088846
SN - 0094-8276
VL - 29
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
IS - 6
M1 - 1091
ER -