1 of 10

Adding Mass

Water Dams

Koyna Dam, India, MS 6.3, from 1967

Erecting Tall Buildings

Taipei 101, Taiwan, M 3.8, from 1998

Coastal Land Gain

Folkestone, UK, ML 4.2, 2007

Removing Mass

Quarrying

Kuzbass, Siberia, M 6.1, 2013

Extraction from Subsurface

Groundwater Extraction

Gorkha, Nepal, MW 7.8, 2015

Mining

Volkershausen Ernst Thaelmann/Merkers potash mine, Germany, ML 5.6, 1989

Oil & Gas Extraction

Coalinga, California, MW 6.2 1983

Geothermal Production

The Geysers, USA, M 1.5-4, 1960-2013

Injection into the Subsurface

Wastewater Disposal

Denver, Colorado, M 3–4, 1961 - 1967

Oil Recovery

Rangely Oilfield, Colorado, ML 3.1, 1969

Enhanced Geothermal Systems

Basel, Switzerland, ML 3.4, 2006

MS: Surface Wave Magnitude

M/MW: Moment Magnitude

ML: Richter Local Magnitude

2 of 10

1967 Koyna, India�MS 6.3

2015 Gorkha, Nepal MW 7.8

1983 Coalinga, California MW 6.2

3 of 10

Koyna Dam, India

4 of 10

Coalinga, California Oil Field

5 of 10

Gorkha, Nepal Extraction of Riverbed Materials

6 of 10

Taipei 101 Construction

7 of 10

Folkestone, UK Coastal Land Gain

8 of 10

Bachatsky Coal Mine

9 of 10

Merkers Potash Mine

10 of 10

τ=τ0+μ(σn​−p)

  • τ0:Cohesion, or the natural "stickiness" holding the fault surfaces together
  • μ:Coefficient of friction, describing how slippery the fault surfaces are
  • σn: Normal stress, the pressure pushing the fault surfaces together
  • p: Pore pressure, the pressure of fluids within the fault.