Advances in research on earthquake fluids hydrogeology in China: A review

Abstract

Monitoring of subsurface fluid (underground fluid) is an important part of efforts for earthquake prediction in China. The nationwide network, which monitors groundwater level, water temperature, and radon and mercury in groundwater, has been constructed in the last decades. Large amounts of abnormal fluid changes before and after major earthquakes have been recorded, providing precious data for research in earthquake sciences. Many studies have been done in earthquake fluid hydrogeology in order to probe the nature of the earthquake. Much progress in earthquake fluid hydrogeology has been made in the last decades. The paper provides a review of the advances in research on earthquake fluid hydrogeology over the last 40 years in China. It deals with the following five aspects: (1) an introduction to the development history of monitoring networks construction; (2) cases of different subsurface fluid changes recorded before some major earthquakes which occurred in the last decades; (3) characteristics of subsurface fluid changes following major earthquakes; (4) mechanism of subsurface fluid changes before and following earthquakes; (5) application of earthquake fluids in the hydrogeology field. © 2014 The Seismological Society of China, Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.