Chonnam National University Research Team Uncovers Mechanism of 'Pohang Earthquake'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Yoon Jamin] A research team at Chonnam National University has elucidated the earthquake occurrence mechanism due to water injection through a case study of the Pohang earthquake.

According to Chonnam National University on the 26th, Professor Yeo In-guk's research team (Department of Geological Environment) demonstrated through a case study of the 2017 Mw 5.5 earthquake near the Pohang geothermal power facility that it is indeed possible for a large earthquake like the Pohang earthquake to be triggered by a small amount of water injection, addressing previous debates on this issue.

Professor Yeo's team revealed through pore pressure changes and Coulomb stress transfer modeling that the initial changes in pore pressure caused by water injection induced small earthquakes on faults in a critical stress state. The accumulated strain energy transferred by stress migration sequentially promoted the occurrence of other earthquakes, and the interaction among these earthquakes ultimately led to a larger earthquake.

This paper was published in the May 26 issue of the prestigious international scientific journal Nature Communications (Impact Factor 11.878).

The lead author of this research paper is Professor Yeo In-wook (Chonnam National University), who was the domestic investigation team leader of the Pohang earthquake government investigation research group. Participating in the study were Professor Lee Kang-geun (Seoul National University), who served as the overall director of the government investigation research group at the time, and Professor Shemin Ge from the University of Colorado, USA, who was the overseas investigation chairman. Professor Megan Brown from Northern Illinois University, USA, also joined the research.

The research team stated, “Evaluating in real time the changes in pore pressure, the locations of initial earthquakes, and the stress change processes caused by these earthquakes is very important for assessing the likelihood of triggering a large earthquake.”

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