Section

Geoecology

Title

INFLUENCE OF LARGE WATER-STORAGE RESERVOIRS ON THE ISOSTATIC EQUILIBRIUM OF THE EARTH'S CRUST

Сontributors

V. V. Tetel'min, Ph. D. (Engineering),

V. A. Grachev, Ph. D. (Engineering), Head of the Department of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Moscow;

O.V. Pliamina, Director of the Environmental Research Scientific Institute, Moscow

Abstract

The main types of the vertical movements of the land surface caused by the weight of a large reservoir are considered. The authors demonstrate that the load created by large water-storage reservoirs leads to a change in the regional balance, increasing the active influence area. The deflection radius is up to 80 km, and the amplitude is 200 mm, which influences the stress-strain state and causes the observed seismic events.

The gravitational loading created by large reservoirs breaks the isostatic balance of the crust at regional scale and significantly increases the active area of the influence of water-engineering systems. The deflection of the crust thickness due to the weight of a reservoir makes changes into its intensely deformed state and is the reason for the seismic events observed at hydro- technical bodies with the hypocenter at large depth and large distance from the reservoirs.

Keywords

water-storage reservoir, the Earth's crust, the tension of the Earth's crust, geoecology of large water bodies, gravity load, artificial seismic events.

References

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2.  Rogers A. M., Lee W. K. H. Seismic study of earthquakes in the Lake Mead, Nevada-Arizona region. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 1976, Vol. 66, 1657—1681.

3.  Tetel’min V. V., Danielov E. R. Progib zemnoy kory ot vesa krupnykh vodokhranilishch i ego posledstviya. [Deflection of the Earth’s crust caused by the weight of large water-storage reservoirs and its consequences]. Saarbrucken: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing, 2016. 106 p. (in Russian).

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5.  Tetel’min V. V., Danielov E. R. Reaktsiya zemnoy kory na sozdaniye krupnykh vodokhranilishch [Response of the Earth’s crust to creation of large water-storage reservoirs]. Gidrotehnika, 2014, No. 3, P. 51—55. (in Russian).

6.  Tetel’min V. V. Silnye vozdeystviya vodokhranilishch na geologicheskuyu sredu i zemnuyu koru [Severe impact of wa- ter-storage reservoirs on geological environment and the Earth’s crust]. Moscow: Intellekt, 2015. 240 p. (in Russian).