Hydrothermal alteration as a trigger mechanism for earthquake swarms: the Vogtland/NW Bohemia region as a case study
2009
Abstract
Earthquake swarms occur mostly in regions with CO2-enriched pore fluids. It is generally accepted that both geodynamic stress accumulation and critical pore fluid pressures act as a triggering mechanism for most seismic events.
The new thesis presented here is that hydrothermal alteration processes in fault zones help facilitate the shear failure propagation due to mechanical weakening and dissolution of the wall rock, in addition to the normal shear stress and fluid overpressure. The basic idea that stress corrosion cracking results from chemical weakening and comminution has been discussed for many years.