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Virginia Tech

Evidence of Hydro-Seismicity in the Tennessee Seismic Zone

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Reservoir level and discharge data were collected for three Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) dams (Chickamauga, Watts Bar and Douglas) on the Tennessee river in the Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone (ETSZ). Earthquake catalog data was also collected for the ETSZ from 1980-2018. Well levels from 2 U.S. Geological Survey groundwater monitoring wells were also collected. Rainfall data were collected for the ETSZ. Reservoir, well and rainfall data were examined for correlation with earthquake occurrence rates. High Pearson correlation and anti-correlation coefficients (.7-.9) were obtained for the reservoir level and dam discharge volume rates vs monthly earthquake counts. Pearson correlation coefficients for rainfall and well level vs. monthly earthquake counts were small (.0-.2). A large difference in earthquake rates between the months of February (low rate) and April (high rate) over the 39 year study period was observed. The difference in earthquakes rates for February and April are statistically significant at the 95% confidence interval using the two sample Poisson rate test. The high correlations for the reservoir level and flow discharge vs. earthquake counts provides strong evidence of hydro-seismicity occurring in the ETSZ from seasonal fluctuations in reservoir level and discharge flow.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Geosciences
Department dc:contributor.department
Geosciences
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2023

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • King, Gregory Lester
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Chapman, Martin C.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Hole, John Andrew
  • Zhou, Ying

Subjects

dc:subject × 3

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright
Language dc:language.iso
en

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:38778
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/116673

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

King, Gregory Lester. Evidence of Hydro-Seismicity in the Tennessee Seismic Zone. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2023. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/116673