Groundwater-level Changes Due to Pressure Gradient Induced by Nearby Earthquakes off Izu Peninsula, 1997

Anomalous water level changes were observed at two wells associated with seismic swarm activity off Izu Peninsula on March, 1997. These are coseismic water level drops followed by gradual postseismic water level rise at the time of large earthquakes during the swarm activity. The post-seismic water level rises, which can be fitted by an exponential function with a time constant of about six hours, are explained in terms of the horizontal pressure diffusion due to the pressure gradient in the aquifer induced by the coseismic static strain.