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Effects of seismic ground motion and geological setting on the coseismic groundwater level changes caused by the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake, Taiwan

Earth, Planets and Space volume 56, pages 873–880 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

The groundwater level changes induced by the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake were well recorded at the monitoring wells in and around the Choshui River alluvial fan, Taiwan, which is adjacent to the focal region. We analyzed the coseismic groundwater level changes related to the geological setting and seismic ground motion. In a typical fan area, the groundwater levels coseismically rose and those amplitudes increased as the ground acceleration and hydraulic conductivity became larger. In the slope area near the earthquake fault, the groundwater levels coseismically dropped and those amplitudes increased as the ground acceleration became larger. The liquefaction and permeability enhancement, whose degrees depend on the geological setting and seismic ground motion, might explain the characteristics of the coseismic groundwater level changes in the Choshui River alluvial fan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Disaster Prevention Research Center, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, R.O.C.

    Wen-Chi Lai, Ching-Wee Lin & Chjeng-Lun Shieh

  2. Tectono-Hydrology Research Group, Geological Survey of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan

    Naoji Koizumi, Norio Matsumoto & Yuichi Kitagawa

  3. Water Resources Agency, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan, R.O.C.

    Youe-Ping Lee

Authors
  1. Wen-Chi Lai
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  2. Naoji Koizumi
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  3. Norio Matsumoto
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  4. Yuichi Kitagawa
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  5. Ching-Wee Lin
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  6. Chjeng-Lun Shieh
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  7. Youe-Ping Lee
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Correspondence to Wen-Chi Lai.

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Lai, WC., Koizumi, N., Matsumoto, N. et al. Effects of seismic ground motion and geological setting on the coseismic groundwater level changes caused by the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake, Taiwan. Earth Planet Sp 56, 873–880 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352534

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352534

Key words

  • Chi-Chi earthquake
  • liquefaction
  • geological setting
  • ground motion
  • hydrologic conductivity
  • permeability enhancement