Induced Seismicity in Masjed Soleyman Reservoir (Southwest of Iran)

Masjed Soleyman reservoir is located in Zagros Mountain of western Iran, which is one of the most seismically active zones of the Alpe-Himalaya belt. So, it seems to be necessary to carry out widespread studies, especially on the impact of this reservoir with 177 m height and 261 million m3 capacity on occurrence of induced seismicity in the surrounding region. During impounding of the reservoir regards to national and international catalogues such as International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (IIEES) and EHB catalog, an incensement in seismic rate is observed in the Masjed Soleyman region, and 90 days after completing the impounding, an earthquake with magnitude Mw=5.6 is occurred in the close vicinity of the Masjed Soleyman reservoir. In order to better understanding of the impact of this reservoir on seismic activity, a local seismic network of 5 seismological stations was installed in the area on June 2006. Seismic events recorded during a period of 15 month were used in this study. The largest recorded earthquakes during the monitoring of Masjed Soleyman reservoir have magnitudes of ML=3.9 and ML=3.6. Statistical methods such as correlation of the water level changes with variation of the regional seismicity, the foreshocks and aftershocks pattern and decay rate of aftershocks reveal the existing of induced seismicity in the Masjed Soleyman region. In absence of a local network before 2002 September, 25 earthquake (Mw=5.6), our observations indicate this earthquake is truly the first and largest induced earthquake that have been occurred and recognized in Iran.