Articles | Volume 372
https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-372-291-2015
https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-372-291-2015
12 Nov 2015
 | 12 Nov 2015

Continuous monitoring of an earth fissure in Chino, California, USA – a management tool

M. C. Carpenter

Cited articles

Burbey, T. J.: Mechanisms for earth fissure formation in heavily pumped basins, Land Subsidence, Associated Hazards and the Role of Natural Resources Development,Proceedings of EISOLS 2010, 17–22 October 2010, Queretaro, Mexico, IAHS Publ. 339, 3–8, 2010.
Carpenter, M. C.: Earth-fissure movements associated with fluctuations in ground-water levels near the Picacho Mountains, south-central Arizona, 1980-84, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 497-H, 49 pp., available at: http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/0497h/report.pdf, last access: 15 October 2015, 1993.
Carpenter, M. C., South-central Arizona, in: Land Subsidence in the United States, edited by: Galloway, D., Jones, D., and Ingebritsen, S., U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1182, 65–78, available at: http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/circ1182/pdf/09Arizona.pdf, last access: 15 October 2015, 1999.
Davis, S. N., Peterson, F. L., and Halderman, A. D.: Measurement of small surface displacements induced by fluid flow, Water Resour. Res., 5, 129–138, 1969.
Haneberg, W. C. and Friesen, R. L.: Tilts, strains, and ground-water levels near an earth fissure in the Mimbres Basin, New Mexico, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 107, 316–326, 1995.
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Short summary
Instruments buried across an earth-fissure zone in Chino, California since 2011 show opening during pumping and closing during recovery of about 30% of the lowest estimate of the threshold for major fissure opening. Continuous measurements of horizontal strain, water-level fluctuations, and subsidence can provide a real-time management tool to restrict pumping if strain approaches the lower limit of strain-at-failure or a stress-strain curve deviates from the previous mostly elastic regimen.