Predictions in Ungauged Basins: Promise and Progress (Proceedings of symposium S7 held during the Seventh IAHS Scientific Assembly at Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, April 2005). IAHS Publ. 303, 2006, 286-290.

 

Water level change in wells—a predictor for earthquakes?

 

Joseph Guttman1, Akiva Flexer2 & Annat Yellin-Dror2

1       Department of Hydrology, Mekorot–Israel National Water Company Ltd., 9 Lincoln St, Tel Aviv 61201, Israel

yguttman@mekorot.co.il

2       Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel

 

Abstract Regional as well as worldwide development on the subject of earthquake prediction has failed to succeed and, until now, has not provided reliable forecasting phenomena. Along the history of research, earthquake prediction was a challenging but unsuccessful task for saving life. Further­more, development of forecasting tools is limited and there is an increasing gap between the known post-shock data and the unknown pre-shock lack of information. Numerous attempts have been made to achieve advanced warning for earthquakes. In our case the water level rise and falls in the regional confined aquifers were found to manifest themselves clearly prior to the earthquake, potentially giving a sufficient amount of time to warn the population of the coming quake. Although the results are preliminary, observations based on scars and insufficient data, it should not be ignored and more research should be carried out in order to be sure that this newly observed phenomenon is suitable.

 

Key words  aquifers; earthquake prediction; groundwater; Israel; pumping wells