- 1Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Hannover, Germany
- 2Landesamt für Bergbau, Energie und Geologie (LBEG), Hannover, Germany
- 3Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institut für Geowissenschaften, Jena, Germany
The Federal Seismic Survey at BGR routinely evaluates seismic events in Germany and neighbouring
countries on a daily basis. The results are supplemented by the outcomes of the seismological agencies of
the federal states of Germany and German universities and stored in an event database and in the German
earthquake catalogue, which is complete for earthquakes with magnitudes ML ≥ 2.
Furthermore, the events are classified as natural earthquakes, induced earthquakes, or explosions (mostly
quarry blasts). A considerable number of the events are induced earthquakes. They originate from stress
changes due to human activity in the subsurface. The main causes of the induced events are coal mining,
potash salt mining, natural gas extraction and geothermal energy.
We describe the characteristics of the associated seismicity for the different mining regions in Germany. In
contrast to natural seismicity characterized by long-term tectonic processes, the number and strength of
induced seismicity can be strongly dependent on rather short-term temporal and spatial changes following
the mining process.
The seismicity in coal mining regions, e.g., decreased coinciding with the shutdown of coal mining, whereas
seismic activity in geothermal or natural gas fields show different behavior, increasing or decreasing
depending on the location. Additionally, the latter both types of induced seismicity show remarkable
peculiarities in their temporal behavior. Seismic events still occur with a delay after a geothermal power plant
was shut down. Seismic activity can start even several years after the start of extraction in a new natural gas
field.
We show the temporal course of induced seismicity over the last 10 years in dependence on the distinct
extraction types, compare it with the previous decades and discuss the main features. In addition, we also
investigate the magnitude-frequency relationship and the energy release of the induced earthquakes. We
determine these parameters regarding their originators as well as in relation to those of natural earthquakes.
How to cite: Plenefisch, T., Bischoff, M., Gaebler, P., Hartmann, G., and Wegler, U.: Induced seismicity in Germany during the last decade - an overview and update, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-9673, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-9673, 2025.
