TY - JOUR
T1 - Frequency–Magnitude Distribution of −3.7 ≤ M W ≤ 1 Mining-Induced Earthquakes Around a Mining Front and b Value Invariance with Post-Blast Time
AU - Naoi, Makoto
AU - Nakatani, Masao
AU - Horiuchi, Shigeki
AU - Yabe, Yasuo
AU - Philipp, Joachim
AU - Kgarume, Thabang
AU - Morema, Gilbert
AU - Khambule, Sifiso
AU - Masakale, Thabang
AU - Ribeiro, Luiz
AU - Miyakawa, Koji
AU - Watanabe, Atsushi
AU - Otsuki, Kenshiro
AU - Moriya, Hirokazu
AU - Murakami, Osamu
AU - Kawakata, Hironori
AU - Yoshimitsu, Nana
AU - Ward, Anthony
AU - Durrheim, Ray
AU - Ogasawara, Hiroshi
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Gold One International Ltd., operator of the Cooke 4 shaft, for approving our publication, and also personnel at the mine and at the Institute of Mine Seismology for facilitating our project. This project was funded by Grants-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan (21224012, 21246134). It was also funded by JST/JICA, SATREPS, and the MEXT’s Observation and Research Program for Prediction of Earthquakes and Volcanic Eruptions.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2013, Springer Basel.
PY - 2014/10
Y1 - 2014/10
N2 - We investigated frequency-magnitude distribution (FMD) of acoustic emissions (AE) occurring near an active mining front in a South African gold mine, using a catalog developed from an AE network, which is capable of detecting AEs down to MW −5. When records of blasts were removed, FMDs of AEs obeyed a Gutenberg−Richter law with similar b values, not depending on post-blasting time from the initial 1-min interval through more than 30 h. This result denies a suggestion in a previous study (Richardson and Jordan Bull Seismol Soc Am, 92:1766–1782, 2002) that new fractures generated by blasting disturb the size distribution of background events, which they interpreted as slip events on existing weak planes. Our AE catalog showed that the GR law with b ∼ 1.2 was valid between MW −3.7 and 0 for AEs around the mining front. Further, using the mine’s seismic catalog, which covers a longer time period of the same area, we could extend the validity range of the GR law with the same b value up to MW 1.
AB - We investigated frequency-magnitude distribution (FMD) of acoustic emissions (AE) occurring near an active mining front in a South African gold mine, using a catalog developed from an AE network, which is capable of detecting AEs down to MW −5. When records of blasts were removed, FMDs of AEs obeyed a Gutenberg−Richter law with similar b values, not depending on post-blasting time from the initial 1-min interval through more than 30 h. This result denies a suggestion in a previous study (Richardson and Jordan Bull Seismol Soc Am, 92:1766–1782, 2002) that new fractures generated by blasting disturb the size distribution of background events, which they interpreted as slip events on existing weak planes. Our AE catalog showed that the GR law with b ∼ 1.2 was valid between MW −3.7 and 0 for AEs around the mining front. Further, using the mine’s seismic catalog, which covers a longer time period of the same area, we could extend the validity range of the GR law with the same b value up to MW 1.
KW - Acoustic emission
KW - Gutenberg Richter law
KW - Mining-induced earthquake
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U2 - 10.1007/s00024-013-0721-7
DO - 10.1007/s00024-013-0721-7
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84901720593
VL - 171
SP - 2665
EP - 2684
JO - Pure and Applied Geophysics
JF - Pure and Applied Geophysics
SN - 0033-4553
IS - 10
ER -