Analyzing groundwater change on a volcanic island caused by the impact of the M9 Sumatra earthquake

Abstract

Changes in groundwater level have been recognized by the earthquakes at various epicentral distances. The M9 Sumatra earthquake resulted in changes in the groundwater level, electrical conductivity, and temperature in monitoring wells on Jeju Island, South Korea. In regions of different groundwater type (basal, lower parabasal, upper parabasal, and high-level groundwater), the changes in the groundwater levels at 25 monitoring wells ranged between 4.0 and 49.5 cm; changes in the electrical conductivity at six monitoring wells ranged between 1 and 27,975 μS/cm; and the changes in water temperature at three wells ranged between 0.02 and 1.37 °C. The irregular groundwater level changes at different locations on the island due to the earthquake reflect various interactions between hydrological properties and seismological processes. The impact of the earthquake was successfully recognized via transfer function modeling between the time series of groundwater level and the tidal oscillation. On the basis of the theoretical aquifer response to the earthquake, storage coefficient estimates for aquifers, which could not be determined from the single-well pumping tests, were determined to be within the range of 1.22·10−4-3.51·10−6.