Groundwater Level Changes Induced by Earthquakes

Atmospheric loading, earth tides and seismic waves are known to affect groundwater level oscillations (Cooper et al. 1965; Brodsky et al. 2003; Kitagawa et al. 2011; Wang and Manga 2009). In some cases, sustained changes of the groundwater level occur during different time spans. The duration of the short-term sustained changes (minutes) is associated with the passage of the seismic waves and it is assumed that they occur under undrained conditions.