2018/12/18 by Robert J. Skoumal, Phillip Dawson, Stephen H. Hickman +1 · 1 voice
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #earthquake and tectonic studies #Landslides and related hazards #Seismic Waves and Analysis
paper · doi:10.1785/0120180255
openalex publication_date 2018/12/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
Research Article| December 18, 2018 Microseismic Events Associated with the Oroville Dam Spillway Robert J. Skoumal; Robert J. Skoumal aU.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Phillip B. Dawson; Phillip B. Dawson aU.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Stephen H. Hickman; Stephen H. Hickman aU.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar J. Ole Kaven J. Ole Kaven aU.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Robert J. Skoumal aU.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Phillip B. Dawson aU.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Stephen H. Hickman aU.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] J. Ole Kaven aU.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Publisher: Seismological Society of America First Online: 18 Dec 2018 Online Issn: 1943-3573 Print Issn: 0037-1106 © Seismological Society of America Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (2019) 109 (1): 387–394. https://doi.org/10.1785/0120180255 Article history First Online: 18 Dec 2018 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Robert J. Skoumal, Phillip B. Dawson, Stephen H. Hickman, J. Ole Kaven; Microseismic Events Associated with the Oroville Dam Spillway. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 2018;; 109 (1): 387–394. doi: https://doi.org/10.1785/0120180255 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyBulletin of the Seismological Society of America Search Advanced Search Abstract On 14 February 2017, two small (equivalent MD 0.8 and 1.0) seismic events occurred in proximity to the Oroville Dam in the Sierra Nevada foothills, California. To examine possible causal relationships between these events and reservoir operations, including the spillway failure starting prior to these events, we applied a new optimized template‐matching approach to seismic data between May 1993 and April 2018. We identified more than 19,000 smaller‐magnitude events that were similar in character to the February 14 events. These events are located in proximity to the Oroville spillway and occurred in tight temporal clusters that strongly correlate with periods of spillway discharge. Seismic source inversion is inconclusive, but we suggest that these events might be induced by rapid changes in pore pressure along a fracture (or fractures) near the spillway. Cavitation cannot be ruled out, but it is unlikely to be the primary cause of the signals observed because these events are intermittent, impulsive, and of short duration. The inferred repetitive opening and closing of the fracture(s) occurred long before any damage to the spillway and is thus probably not directly associated with spillway failure in February 2017. These events were not related to the 1975 ML 5.7 earthquake sequence that may have been induced by the filling of the Oroville Reservoir. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.