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Triggered Seismicity and Temporal Change of Seismic Velocity in Salton Sea Geothermal Field
  • Chenyu Li
Chenyu Li
Georgia Institute of Technology

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Abstract

The Salton Sea Geothermal Field (SSGF) is one of the most seismically active and geothermally productive fields in Southern California. Previous studies showed that local seismicity and seismic velocity in SSGF was disturbed by the 2010 M7.2 El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake. Here we present a systematic investigation of triggered seismicity and the spatial-temporal change of seismic velocity in SSGF following some regional and remote earthquakes. The continuous waveform from 2007 to 2014 in the Calenergy Borehole Network (EN) is used for this study. We apply a GPU-based waveform matched-filter technique (WMFT) to 60 days before and after the selected earthquakes, and find possible triggered seismicity following several regional earthquakes, such as the 2009 Mw6.9 Baja California and 2010 Mw5.7 Ocotillo Earthquakes. We also utilize an ambient noise cross-correlation method to quantify the temporal and spatial velocity changes in SSGF. Our result shows clear velocity reduction following the 2010 M7.2 El-Mayor earthquake, and the co-seismic reductions are larger for ray paths outside the geothermal regions. We also find some possible triggered events in SSGF following the 2019 M7.1 Ridgecrest earthquake. Our next step is to conduct a detailed investigation on the possible correlation between triggered seismicity and seismic velocity changes associated with the occurrence of the 2010 M7.2 earthquake, and other regional earthquakes.