Tectonic Analysis of Mine Tremor Mechanisms from the Upper Silesian Coal Basin

Abstract

Fault network of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB) is built of sets of strike-slip, oblique-slip and dip-slip faults. It is a typical product of force couple which acts evenly with the parallel of latitude, causing horizontal and anti-clockwise smovement of rock-mass. Earlier research of focal mechanisms of mine tremors, using a standard fault plane solution, has shown that some events are related to tectonic directions in main structural units of the USCB. An attempt was undertaken to analyze the records of mine tremors from the period 1992–1994 in the selected coal fields. The digital records of about 200 mine tremors with energy larger than 1 x 104 J ( M L > 1.23) were analyzed with SMT software for seismic moment tensor inversion. The decomposition of seismic moment tensor of mine tremors was segmented into isotropic (I) part, compensated linear vector dipole (CLVD) part and double-couple (DC) part. The DC part is prevalent (up to 70%) in the majority of quakes from the central region of the USCB. A group of mine tremors with large I element (up to 50%) can also be observed. The spatial orientation of the fault and auxiliary planes were obtained from the computations for the seismic moment DC part. Study of the DC part of the seismic moment tensor made it possible for us to separate the group of events which might be acknowledged to have their origin in unstable energy release on surfaces of faults forming a regional structural pattern The possible influence of the Cainozoic tectonic history of the USCB on the recent shape of stress field is discussed.