Velocity Structure in the West Bohemia Seismic Zone: Velocity Models Retrieved from different Earthquake Swarms

Abstract:

Earthquake swarms, fluid migration and gas springs are indications of the ongoing geodynamic processes within the West Bohemia seismic zone located at the Czech-German border. The possible relationship between the fluids, gas and seismicity is of particular interest and has motivated numerous past, ongoing and future studies, including a multidisciplinary monitoring proposal through the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP). The most seismically active area within the West Bohemia seismic zone is located at the Czech town Nový Kostel. The Nový Kostel zone experiences frequent swarms of several hundreds to thousands of earthquakes over a period of weeks to several months. The seismicity is always located in the same area and depth range (~5-15 km), however the activated fault segments and planes differ. For example, the 2008 swarm activated faults along the southern end of the seismic zone, the 2011 swarm activated the northern segment, and the recent 2014 swarm activated the middle of the seismic zone. This indicates changes to the local stress field, and may relate to fluid migration and/or the complicated tectonic situation. The West Bohemia Seismic Network (WEBNET) is ideally located for studying the Nový Kostel swarm area and provides good azimuthal coverage. Here, we use the high quality P- and S-wave arrival picks recorded by WEBNET to calculate swarm-dependent velocity models for the 2008 and 2011 swarms, and an averaged (swarm independent) model using earthquakes recorded between 1991 and 2011. To this end, we use double-difference tomography to calculate P- and S-wave velocity models. The models are compared and examined in terms of swarm-dependent velocities and structures. Since the P-to-S velocity ratio is particularly sensitive to the presence of pore fluids, we derive ratio models directly from the inverted P- and S-wave models in order to investigate the potential influence of fluids on the seismicity. Finally, clustering and rupture patterns within the earthquake swarm sequences are analyzed and interpreted in relation to the velocity models in order to identify possible triggering mechanisms for the periodic seismic energy release.