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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Keywords

  • b-value
  • minimum magnitude
  • mining-induced seismicity

Index Terms

  • Seismology: Earthquake source observations
  • Seismology: Seismicity and tectonics
  • Structural Geology: Fractures and faults
  • Seismology: Seismic instruments and networks

Abstract

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 36, L10307, 5 PP., 2009
doi:10.1029/2009GL038080

Extension of Gutenberg-Richter distribution to MW −1.3, no lower limit in sight

Margaret S. Boettcher

U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California, USA

A. McGarr

U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California, USA

Malcolm Johnston

U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California, USA

With twelve years of seismic data from TauTona Gold Mine, South Africa, we show that mining-induced earthquakes follow the Gutenberg-Richter relation with no scale break down to the completeness level of the catalog, at moment magnitude M W −1.3. Events recorded during relatively quiet hours in 2006 indicate that catalog detection limitations, not earthquake source physics, controlled the previously reported minimum magnitude in this mine. Within the Natural Earthquake Laboratory in South African Mines (NELSAM) experiment's dense seismic array, earthquakes that exhibit shear failure at magnitudes as small as M W −3.9 are observed, but we find no evidence that M W −3.9 represents the minimum magnitude. In contrast to previous work, our results imply small nucleation zones and that earthquake processes in the mine can readily be scaled to those in either laboratory experiments or natural faults.

Received 8 March 2009; accepted 22 April 2009; published 28 May 2009.

Citation: Boettcher, M. S., A. McGarr, and M. Johnston (2009), Extension of Gutenberg-Richter distribution to MW −1.3, no lower limit in sight, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L10307, doi:10.1029/2009GL038080.

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