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Seismic monitoring of baseflow and groundwater changes in the Yellowstone National Park
  • Bingxu Luo,
  • Hejun Zhu,
  • David Lumley
Bingxu Luo
Department of Sustainable Earth Systems Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
Hejun Zhu
Department of Sustainable Earth Systems Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Dallas
David Lumley
Department of Sustainable Earth Systems Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Dallas

Abstract

Relative seismic velocity changes (dv/v) are being increasingly used to monitor changes in groundwater. However, it remains challenging to verify its implementation in watersheds without direct groundwater well measurements. In this study, we conduct a twelve year dv/v observation in a watershed of the Yellowstone National Park. We find that the seasonal fluctuations and long-term trend of the measured dv/v are highly correlated with the estimated baseflow, which serves as a constraint for groundwater changes. We integrate the estimated baseflow into a poroelastic mechanism and conduct two dv/v simulations based on pressure diffusion. These two simulations closely match with our observed dv/v variations. In addition, our analysis suggest that the measured dv/v is primarily influenced by hydrologic pressure diffusion rather than surface air temperature. We conclude that the baseflow analysis can further enhance the seismic monitoring of groundwater changes.
11 Aug 2024Submitted to ESS Open Archive
12 Aug 2024Published in ESS Open Archive