Visibility Graph Investigation of the Shallow Seismicity of Lai Chau Area (Vietnam)

In this study, the topological properties of the shallow seismicity occurring in the area around the Lai Chau hydropower plant (Vietnam) are investigated by using visibility graph (VG) analysis, a well-known method to convert time series into networks or graphs. The relationship between the seismicity and reservoir water level was analyzed using Interlayer Mutual Information (IMI) and the Frobenius norm, both applied to the corresponding VG networks. IMI was used to assess the correlation between the two variables, while the Frobenius norm was employed to estimate the time delay between them. The total seismicity, which resulted in an M≥0.8 with a <i>b</i>-value of 0.86, is characterized by a k-M slope of ≈9.1. Analyzing the variation of the seismological and topological parameters of the seismicity relative to the distance from the center of the Lai Chau reservoir revealed the following features: (1) the <i>b</i>-value fluctuates around a mean value of 1.21 at distances of up to 10-11 km, while, for distances larger than 25-30 km, it tends to the value of 0.86; (2) the maximum IMI between the monthly number of earthquakes and the monthly mean water level occurs at a distance of 9-11 km, showing a distance evolution similar to that of the <i>b</i>-value; (3) at these distances from the center of the reservoir, the time lag between the earthquake monthly counts and the monthly water level mean is 9-10 months; (4) the relationship between the <i>b</i>-value and the k-M slope suggests that the k-M slope depends on the number of earthquakes within a 22 km radius from the center of the dam. Our study's findings offer new insights into the complex dynamics of seismicity occurring around reservoirs.