LabQuake: taking lab scale studies of earthquakes to the next level

In the beginning of February, the Swiss Seismological Service (SED) at ETH Zurich received a very special delivery: An 11-ton and 2.4 x 2.5 x 1 meters machine that can induce small earthquakes in palm-sized rock samples under conditions that are representative for the Earth’s crust in 4–8 km depth. This apparatus is called LabQuake and has been installed in the Rock Physics and Mechanics Laboratory under the responsibility of Dr. Claudio Madonna. LabQuake will enable a new research direction for the SED – Laboratory Seismology – aimed at gaining a better understanding of earthquake physics, for example in the context of induced earthquakes triggered by deep geothermal stimulations. Dr. Paul Selvadurai is leading the newly created Laboratory Seismology research group.

To develop a better understanding of nature, scientist often examine complex problems in the laboratory where they control the environment, repeat experiments and place dense arrays of sensors. With LabQuake, scientists induce tens of thousands of very small earthquakes – so-called nano-seismic events that produce the same order of energy as an insect flapping its wings once – in rock samples and observe how they form, what controls them, and why they cease. To this end, LabQuake is equipped with various sensors, measuring in great detail the evolution of nano-seismicity, strain and pore-pressure within the rock sample.