Groundwater oxygen anomaly related to the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake in Southwest Japan.

Here, we report the groundwater oxygen isotope anomalies caused by the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake (MJMA7.3) that occurred in Southwest Japan on April 16, 2016. One hundred and seventeen groundwater samples were collected from a deep well located 3 km to the southeast of the epicenter in Mifune Town, Kumamoto Prefecture; they were drinking water packed in PET bottles and distributed in the area between April 2015 and March 2018. Further, the oxygen and hydrogen isotopes were evaluated via cavity ring-down spectroscopy without performing any pretreatment. An anomalous increase was observed with respect to the δ18O value (up to 0.51‰) soon after the earthquake along with a precursory increase of 0.38‰ in January 2016 before the earthquake. During these periods, there was no noticeable change in the hydrogen isotopic ratios. Rapid crustal deformation related to the earthquake may have enhanced the microfracturing of the aquifer rocks and the production of new surfaces, inducing δ18O enrichment via oxygen isotopic exchange between rock and porewater without changing δ2H.

Groundwater oxygen isotope anomaly before the M6.6 Tottori earthquake in Southwest Japan.

Geochemical monitoring of groundwater in seismically-active regions has been carried out since 1970s. Precursors were well documented, but often criticized for anecdotal or fragmentary signals, and for lacking a clear physico-chemical explanation for these anomalies. Here we report - as potential seismic precursor - oxygen isotopic ratio anomalies of +0.24‰ relative to the local background measured in groundwater, a few months before the Tottori earthquake (M 6.6) in Southwest Japan. Samples were deep groundwater located 5 km west of the epicenter, packed in bottles and distributed as drinking water between September 2015 and July 2017, a time frame which covers the pre- and post-event. Small but substantial increase of 0.07‰ was observed soon after the earthquake. Laboratory crushing experiments of aquifer rock aimed to simulating rock deformation under strain and tensile stresses were carried out. Measured helium degassing from the rock and 18O-shift suggest that the co-seismic oxygen anomalies are directly related to volumetric strain changes. The findings provide a plausible physico-chemical basis to explain geochemical anomalies in water and may be useful in future earthquake prediction research.

Groundwater helium anomaly reflects strain change during the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake in Southwest Japan.

Geochemical monitoring of groundwater and soil gas emission pointed out precursor and/or coseismic anomalies of noble gases associated with earthquakes, but there was lack of plausible physico-chemical basis. A laboratory experiment of rock fracturing and noble gas emission was conducted, but there is no quantitative connection between the laboratory results and observation in field. We report here deep groundwater helium anomalies related to the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, which is an inland crustal earthquake with a strike-slip fault and a shallow hypocenter (10 km depth) close to highly populated areas in Southwest Japan. The observed helium isotope changes, soon after the earthquake, are quantitatively coupled with volumetric strain changes estimated from a fault model, which can be explained by experimental studies of helium degassing during compressional loading of rock samples. Groundwater helium is considered as an effective strain gauge. This suggests the first quantitative linkage between geochemical and seismological observations and may open the possibility to develop a new monitoring system to detect a possible strain change prior to a hazardous earthquake in regions where conventional borehole strain meter is not available.