Co-seismic changes of well water level and volume strain meter in capital area and its vicinity, due to the Nov.14, 2001 Ms8.1 Kunlun Mountain earthquake, China

Abstract

The Kunlunshan Mountain Ms8.1 earthquake, occurred in Nov.14, 2001, is the first event with magnitude more than 8 in the China earthquake monitoring history, specifically at the beginning of digital techniques in precursor monitoring networks. Any investigation of recorded data on this earthquake is very important for testing the operation of the digital monitoring networks and understanding the preparation, occurrence, and adjustment of stress/strain of strong continental earthquakes. In this paper we investigated the co-seismic response changes of well water level of groundwater and volume strain meter of bore hole in digital earthquake monitoring network of Capital area and its vicinity, due to the Nov.14, 2001 Ms8.1 Kunlun Mountain earthquake. The responding time, shapes or manners, amplitudes, and lasting time of well water level and strain-meters to seismic wave are studied in comparison. Then we discussed the possibility that the response changes of groundwater to strong distant earthquakes can be understood as one kind of observing evidence of stress/strain changes induced by distant earthquake.

Keywords

• Kunlun Mountain earthquake
• Co-seismic response
• Groundwater level in wells
• Volume strain meter in borehole
• Capital area
• Digital monitoring network
• 9th Five-Year Plan
• Long range correlation