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Science 27 June 2003:
Vol. 300. no. 5628, pp. 2047 - 2049
DOI: 10.1126/science.1082980
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Review

Streamflow and Water Well Responses to Earthquakes

David R. Montgomery1 and Michael Manga2,3

Earthquake-induced crustal deformation and ground shaking can alter stream flow and water levels in wells through consolidation of surficial deposits, fracturing of solid rocks, aquifer deformation, and the clearing of fracture-filling material. Although local conditions affect the type and amplitude of response, a compilation of reported observations of hydrological response to earthquakes indicates that the maximum distance to which changes in stream flow and water levels in wells have been reported is related to earthquake magnitude. Detectable streamflow changes occur in areas within tens to hundreds of kilometers of the epicenter, whereas changes in groundwater levels in wells can occur hundreds to thousands of kilometers from earthquake epicenters.

1 Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
2 Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
3 Earth Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Major Earthquakes Recorded by Speleothems in Midwestern U.S. Caves.
S. V. Panno, C. C. Lundstrom, K. C. Hackley, B. B. Curry, B. W. Fouke, and Z. Zhang (2009)
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Transient Changes in Well-Water Level in Bore Wells in Western India Due to the 2004 Mw 9.3 Sumatra Earthquake.
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Neogene sedimentary deformation in the Chilean forearc and implications for Andean basin development, seismicity and uplift.
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