Natural and man-made induced hydrological signals, detected by high resolution tilt observations at the Geodynamic Observatory Moxa/Germany

It is well known, that high resolution borehole tiltmeters are able to observe deformations, caused by hydrological variations. The quantitative coherence is often unexplained, especially if the sources of deformation can be based on both natural as well as man-made hydrological variations. Since 1999 tilt observations have been taken at the Geodynamic Observatory Moxa in Thuringia/Germany. In two 50 m and one 100 m deep boreholes the ASKANIA tiltmeters are installed. The high quality of the recorded tilt data can be proved by the analysis of well known geodynamic signals like the tides of the solid Earth and the free modes of the Earth. Here we focus on investigations of induced tilt signals caused by pore pressure changes due to precipitation and/or ground water level changes and, in addition, on man-made induced pore pressure variations. The correlation of natural ground water level changes with the observed tilt data can be shown by different events of precipitation and snow melting. However, also the load effect of a big truck yields a small elastic deformation which is clearly detectable in the ground water level recording. The correlated tilt effect is discussed regarding changes of the tilt amplitude and the orientation of the induced pendulum tip movement during the load phase.