A New Approach to Hazard Control of Human-Triggered Earthquakes near Mining Facilities

Abstract

It is proposed in this paper to use the focal characteristics of small seismic events, in particular, the scaled energy and the rupture propagation velocity, as indicators of possible dynamic movements along a fault. The two sites selected for analysis underwent microseismic events induced by mining operations. The first site, the Korobkovskoe iron ore deposit of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, is located in the aseismic region. The second site, the apatite–nepheline deposit of the Khibiny massif, is characterized by relatively intensive natural and human-triggered seismicity. Based on the results of the analysis, the values of the scaled seismic energy and the rupture propagation velocity are drastically different at the deposits under consideration. At the apatite–nepheline ore deposit, the parameter values are close to the range of values characteristic for “normal” earthquakes. At the KMA deposit, the obtained anomalously low values of the scaled energy and the rupture propagation velocity correspond to “slow” earthquakes. The results obtained are indicative of the prospects for using the selected parameters as indicators of possible large dynamic events at the studied site of the fault zone.