Natural and induced seismic activity in Kuzbass

Based on the plotted times of occurrence of seismic events, their timing within a work week and location of epicenters, it is illustrated that since the 1960s the seismicity in the Kuzbass territory has been a complicated natural and mining-induced phenomenon. Since the late 1980s, the natural and mining-induced seismicity has entered the second stage of development, with clustering of low-energy seismic events and strong shallow earthquakes in the areas under heavy mining and, in the first instance, at deep open pit mines. The representative event of this kind is the magnitude 5.2 earthquake at the Bachatsky Coal Open Pit Mine on June 19, 2013. It has been found that the natural and induced seismic activity is associated with deep faults that weakly show themselves in the upper layer of the earth crust but appear in the local relief, which is an evidence of their live emergence onto the daylight surface due to the mining impact. The article proposes the comprehensive research program for the natural and mining-induced seismic activity in the Kuzbass area and the development of early identification of seismically active zones.