Combined approach of poroelastic and earthquake nucleation applied to the reservoir-induced seismic activity in the Val d’Agri area, Italy

Abstract In this work, an approach is developed to study the seismicity associated with the impoundment and level changes of a water reservoir (reservoir induced seismicity – RIS). The proposed methodology features a combination of a semi-analytical poroelastic model with an earthquake nucleation approach based on rate-and-state frictional law. The combined approach was applied to the case of the Pertusillo Lake, located in the Val d’Agri area (Italy), whose large seasonal water level changes are believed to induce protracted micro-seismicity (local magnitude ML