Earthquake interevent time distribution for induced micro-, nano-, and picoseismicity

We examine the temporal statistics of micro-, nano-, and picoseismicity induced by mining as well as by long-term fluid injection. Specifically, we analyze catalogs of seismic events recorded at the Mponeng deep gold mine, South Africa, and at the German deep drilling site. We show that the distribution of time intervals between successive earthquakes is form invariant between the different catalogs. In particular, the distribution can be described by the same scaling function recently established for tectonic seismicity and acoustic emissions from laboratory rock fracture. Thus, our findings bridge the energy gap between those two cases and provide clear evidence that these temporal features of seismicity are independent of the energy scales of the events and whether they are of tectonic or induced origin.