Earthquakes in Switzerland and surrounding regions during 2006

Abstract

This report of the Swiss Seismological Service summarizes the seismic activity in Switzerland and surrounding regions during 2006. During this period, 572 earthquakes and 91 quarry blasts were detected and located in the region under consideration. Of these earthquakes, two occurred in conjunction with the construction of the new Gotthard railway tunnel and 165 were induced artificially by the stimulation of a proposed geothermal reservoir beneath the city of Basel. With 20 events with M L ≥ 2.5, five of which were artificially induced, the seismic activity in the year 2006 was far below the average over the previous 31 years. Nevertheless, six events were felt by the public, most prominently the strongest of the induced Basel events (M L 3.4), which caused some non-structural building damage. Noteworthy are also the two earthquakes near Cortaillod (M L 3.2), on the shore of Lake Neuchâtel, and in Val Mora (M L 3.5), between the Engadin and Val Mustair, as well as the 42 aftershocks of the M L 4.9 Vallorcine earthquake, between Martigny and Chamonix, of September 2005.