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The 2004 M_w 4.4 Rotenburg, Northern Germany, Earthquake and Its Possible Relationship with Gas Recovery

¹ Institut für Geophysik
Universität Hamburg
20146 Hamburg, Germany
 (T.D.)
² Institut für Geowissenschaften
Universität Potsdam
Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24
14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
 (F.K.)
³ Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR)
Seismologisches Zentralobservatorium Gräfenberg (SZGRF)
Mozartstr. 57
91052 Erlangen, Germany
 (K.S., K.K.)
⁴ Geoforschungszentrum (GFZ) Potsdam
Telegrafenberg
14473 Potsdam, Germany
 (R.K., K.W.)
⁵ Laboratoire de Geophysique Interne et de Tectonophysique (LGIT)
Observatoire de Grenoble
38041 Grenoble cedex 9, France
 (J.-R.G.)

We study the 20 October 2004 M_w 4.4 Rotenburg (Wümme)/Neuenkirchen earthquake, located in a previously aseismic region in the northern German sedimentary basin. We constrain the source parameter by using different techniques. A possible relationship between this event, the regional tectonic setting, and local gas recovery is investigated. Different waveform inversion and modeling approaches constrain the depth of the mainshock between 5 and 7 km. The source mechanism was oblique normal faulting on planes striking roughly north–south. An inversion for kinematic rupture parameters indicates a unilateral rupture propagation toward the north, consistent with the higher macroseismic intensities found toward the north in the region of Hamburg compared with those at a similar distance toward the south in the region of Hannover. Relocations of the mainshock and three of the largest aftershocks indicate that these events occurred within a few kilometers of three major gas fields and at depth close to gas production intervals. Comparison with seismicity triggered in the northern Netherlands by depletion of similar gas reservoirs in a similar tectonic environment suggests that the M_w 4.4 Rotenburg event may be related to gas recovery.

Online material: Focal mechanism and waveform fit.

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