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Song Tranh 2 hydropower plant and the reservoir containing backed up water are located in the Quang Nam province (Central Vietnam). The region experiences unusual seismic activity related to the reservoir impoundment, with earthquakes of magnitude up to 4.7. In result of cooperation between the Institute of Geophysics, Vietnam Academy of Sciences and Technology and the Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences a seismic network has been built to facilitate seismic monitoring of the Song Tranh 2 area. The network, operating since August 2013, consists of 10 seismic stations. Here we show that the network is sufficient for advanced data processing. The first results of monitoring of the earthquake activity in Song Tranh 2 area in the period between 2012 and 2014, especially the completeness of catalogs, study and comparisons between water level and the seismic activity suggest direct connection between reservoir exploitation and anthropogenic seismicity.

Virtual Research Environments (VREs), also known as science gateways or virtual laboratories, assist researchers in data science by integrating tools for data discovery, data retrieval, workflow management and researcher collaboration, often coupled with a specific computing infrastructure. Recently, the push for better open data science has led to the creation of a variety of dedicated research infrastructures (RIs) that gather data and provide services to different research communities, all of which can be used independently of any specific VRE. There is therefore a need for generic VREs that can be coupled with the resources of many different RIs simultaneously, easily customised to the needs of specific communities. The resource metadata produced by these RIs rarely all adhere to any one standard or vocabulary however, making it difficult to search and discover resources independently of their providers without some translation into a common framework. Cross-RI search can be expedited by using mapping services that harvest RI-published metadata to build unified resource catalogues, but the development and operation of such services pose a number of challenges. In this paper, we discuss some of these challenges and look specifically at the VRE4EIC Metadata Portal, which uses X3ML mappings to build a single catalogue for describing data products and other resources provided by multiple RIs. The Metadata Portal was built in accordance to the e-VRE Reference Architecture, a microservice-based architecture for generic modular VREs, and uses the CERIF standard to structure its catalogued metadata. We consider the extent to which it addresses the challenges of cross-RI search, particularly in the environmental and earth science domain, and how it can be further augmented, for example to take advantage of linked vocabularies to provide more intelligent semantic search across multiple domains of discourse.

Mining, water-reservoir impoundment, underground gas storage, geothermal energy exploitation and hydrocarbon extraction have the potential to cause rock deformation and earthquakes, which may be hazardous for people, infrastructure and the environment. Restricted access to data constitutes a barrier to assessing and mitigating the associated hazards. Thematic Core Service Anthropogenic Hazards (TCS AH) of the European Plate Observing System (EPOS) provides a novel e-research infrastructure. The core of this infrastructure, the IS-EPOS Platform (tcs.ah-epos.eu) connected to international data storage nodes offers open access to large grouped datasets (here termed episodes), comprising geoscientific and associated data from industrial activity along with a large set of embedded applications for their efficient data processing, analysis and visualization. The novel team-working features of the IS-EPOS Platform facilitate collaborative and interdisciplinary scientific research, public understanding of science, citizen science applications, knowledge dissemination, data-informed policy-making and the teaching of anthropogenic hazards related to georesource exploitation. TCS AH is one of 10 thematic core services forming EPOS, a solid earth science European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) (www.epos-ip.org).

AbstractThe ability to predict the magnitude of an earthquake caused by deep fluid injections is an important factor for assessing the safety of the reservoir storage and the seismic hazard. Here, we propose a new approach to evaluate the seismic energy released during fluid injection by integrating injection parameters, induced aseismic deformation, and the distance of earthquake sources from injection. We use data from ten injection experiments performed at a decameter scale into fault zones in limestone and shale formations. We observe that the seismic energy and the hydraulic energy similarly depend on the injected fluid volume (V), as they both scale as V3/2. They show, however, a large discrepancy, partly related to a large aseismic deformation. Therefore, to accurately predict the released seismic energy, aseismic deformation should be considered in the budget through the residual deformation measured at the injection. Alternatively, the minimal hypocentral distance from injection points and the critical fluid pressure for fault reactivation can be used for a better prediction of the seismic moment in the total compilation of earthquakes observed during these experiments. Complementary to the prediction based only on the injected fluid volume, our approach opens the possibility of using alternative monitoring parameters to improve traffic-light protocols for induced earthquakes and the regulation of operational injection activities.

The Geysers geothermal field located in California, USA, is the largest geothermal site in the world, operating since the 1960s. We here investigate and quantify the correlation between temporal seismicity evolution and variation of the injection data by examination of time-series through specified statistical tools (binomial test to investigate significant rate changes, cross correlation between seismic and injection data, b-value variation analysis). To do so, we utilize seismicity and operational data associated with two injection wells (Prati-9 and Prati-29) which cover a time period of approximately 7 yr (from November 2007 to August 2014). The seismicity is found to be significantly positively correlated with the injection rate. The maximum correlation occurs with a seismic response delay of ∼2 weeks, following injection operations. Those results are very stable even after considering hypocentral uncertainties, by applying a vertical shift of the events foci up to 300 m. Our analysis indicates also time variations of b-value, which exhibits significant positive correlation with injection rates.

International audience; The availability of GPS survey data spanning 22 years, along with several independent velocity solutions including up to 16 years of permanent GPS data, presents a unique opportunity to search for persistent (and thus reliable) deformation patterns in the Western Alps, which in turn allow a reinterpretation of the active tectonics of this region. While GPS velocities are still too uncertain to be interpreted on an individual basis, the analysis of range-perpendicular GPS velocity profiles clearly highlights zones of extension in the center of the belt (15.3 to 3.1 nanostrain/year from north to south), with shortening in the forelands. The contrasting geodetic deformation pattern is coherent with earthquake focal mechanisms and related strain/stress patterns over the entire Western Alps. The GPS results finally provide a reliable and robust quantification of the regional strain rates. The observed vertical motions of 2.0 to 0.5 mm/year of uplift from north to south in the core of the Western Alps is interpreted to result from buoyancy forces related to postglacial rebound, erosional unloading, and/or viscosity anomalies in the crustal and lithospheric root. Spatial decorrelation between vertical and horizontal (seismicity related) deformation calls for a combination of processes to explain the complex present-day dynamics of the Western Alps.

We present an efficient Cloud Computing (CC) implementation of the Parallel Small BAseline Subset (P-SBAS) algorithm, which is an advanced Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) technique for the generation of Earth surface displacement time series through distributed computing infrastructures. The rationale of our approach consists in properly distributing the large data volumes and the processing tasks involved in the P-SBAS chain among the available (virtual and/or physical) computing nodes of the CC infrastructure, so that each one of these elements can concurrently work on data that are physically stored on its own local volume. To do this, both an ad hoc management of the data flow and an appropriate scheduling of the parallel jobs have been also implemented to properly handle the high complexity of the P-SBAS workflow. The proposed solution allows minimizing the overall data transfer and network load, thus improving the P-SBAS efficiency and scalability within the exploited CC environments. The presented P-SBAS implementation has been extensively validated through two experimental analyses, which have been carried out by exploiting the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2) resources. The former analysis involves the processing of a large (128 SAR images) COSMO-SkyMed dataset, which has been performed by exploiting up to 64 computing nodes, and is aimed at demonstrating the P-SBAS scalable performances. The latter allows us to show the P-SBAS capability to generate DInSAR results at a regional scale (150 000 km2 in Southern California) in a very short time (about 9 h), by simultaneously processing 18 ENVISAT frames that correspond to a total of 741 SAR images, exploiting in parallel 144 AWS computing nodes. The presented results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed P-SBAS CC solution, which may contribute to further extend the frontiers of the DInSAR investigation at a very large scale.

The European Plate Observation System (EPOS, https://www.epos-ip.org/) is an e-infrastructure aimed at facilitating and promoting the integrated use of data, data products, services and facilities from internationally distributed research infrastructures for Solid Earth Science in Europe. This e-infrastructure is greatly committed to tackle viable solutions for Solid Earth challenges. It is a long-term plan that integrates research infrastructures of different EU countries into a single inter-operable platform. Data, data products, software and services are facilitated through a variety of different thematic core services (e.g., Seismology, Satellite data, Volcano Observations, Multi-Scale Laboratories, etc.). The Spanish EPOS node, coordinated by CSIC, provides data, data products, software and services to EPOS with the help of the repository DIGITAL.CSIC. In particular, geochemical data, satellite observations, control source seismic data as well as access to other data services. The CSIC has adopted the open data mandate and supports that data archives follow the FAIR principles of data management: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. Data are broadly accessible to reuse for other researchers, industry, teaching, training and for the general public. Following these principles, the Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera is updating and enlarging its database (https://digital.csic.es/handle/10261/101879). The repository includes geophysical data acquired in the Iberian Peninsula since the 90’s, both on and offshore. This dataset comprises deep seismic studies of the structure of the crust and uppermost mantle in different geological settings, obtained through projects funded by public calls as well as data resulting from industry funded research projects. This dataset contains, for example, data addressing the characterization of the shallow subsurface for the development of CO2 and radioactive waste geologic storage sites, and data to assess geologic hazards in the neighborhood of faults. The latter aimed to characterize the seismogenic behavior of active faults in strike-slip tectonic contexts. The repository provides access to data that are relevant to assess sustainable and secure exploration and exploitation of the subsurface, a key societal challenge. This work is a contribution of Project EPOS Implementation Phase (EPOS IP), funded by the European Commission (Grant Agreement no: 676564-EPOS IP, Call H2020-INFRADEV-2014-2015/H2020-INFRADEV-1-2015-1). Resumen del trabajo presentado en el 19th International Symposium on Deep Seismic Profiling of the Continents and their Margins (SEISMIX 2020), celebrado del 15 al 19 de marzo de 2020 en Australia Peer reviewed

Abstract. Laboratory experiments can represent a valid approach to unravel the complex interplay between the geochemical behaviour of radon and rock deformation mechanisms. In light of this, we present a new real-time experimental setup for analysing in continuum the alpha-emitting 222Rn and 220Rn daughters over variable stress–strain regimes. The most innovative segment of this setup consists of the radon accumulation chamber obtained from a tough and durable material that can host large cylindrical rock samples. The accumulation chamber is connected, in a closed-loop configuration, to a gas-drying unit and to a RAD7 radon monitor. A recirculating pump moves the gas from the rock sample to a solid-state detector for alpha counting of radon and thoron progeny. The measured radon signal is enhanced by surrounding the accumulation chamber with a digitally controlled heating belt. As the temperature is increased, the number of effective collisions of radon atoms increases favouring the diffusion of radon through the material and reducing the analytical uncertainty. The accumulation chamber containing the sample is then placed into a uniaxial testing apparatus where the axial deformation is measured throughout a linear variable displacement transducer. A dedicated software allows obtaining a variety of stress–strain regimes from fast deformation rates to long-term creep tests. Experiments conducted with this new real-time setup have important ramifications for the interpretation of geochemical anomalies recorded prior to volcanic eruptions or earthquakes.