High-energy seismic events in Legnica–Głogów Copper District in light of ASG-EUPOS data

Seismic events in the area of Poland are related mostly to copper and coal mining, and they are regarded as the most dangerous natural hazard. Although development of geomechanical modelling as the development of geophysical methods determining seismic hazard are evident, low predictability of the time-effect relationship still remains. Geomechanical models as geophysical data analysis highlight the interaction between parts of rock mass or allow to reconstruct the way of rock mass destruction and to understand the processes that take place in the high-energy tremors.

However, the association of larger mining tremors with pre-existing geological features has been reported by many investigators; in geomechanical practice, investigations of rock mass condition concentrate on this problem in the local scale. Therefore, the problem of relations between high-energy seismic events in Legnica–Głogów Copper District (LGCD) and regional scale deformations of terrain surface resulting from possible tectonic activity is discussed in this paper. The GNSS data evaluated from the observations of ASG-EUPOS (Active Geodetic Network – EUPOS) stations in the area of LGCD and in the adjacent areas is analysed in this study. Temporal variation of distances between the stations and evaluated on that base so called apparent strain was combined with the occurrence of high-energy tremors. Consequently, after the examination and analysis of occurrences of mining tremors, it is found that high-energy seismic events and periods of strain accumulation evaluated from GPS/GNSS data have temporal relations. Although the seismic events were triggered by mining, nearly all the events with energy E > 10⁸ J occurred in the periods when the analysed stations’ positions demonstrated a decrease in the baseline length.