Microseismic monitoring and its applications in engineering rock mechanics: A review of recent developments

Microseismic monitoring technique, originally developed in an attempt to predict and reduce the incidents of rockbursts in underground mines, has steadily improved world-wide over the years and paved way for its applications in other engineering rock mechanics problems in underground as well as on the surface. Since late 1980's, it has become possible to not only identify and locate the active zones more accurately, but also know their characteristic features, in terms of source mechanisms, source parameters, and the fractal nature of impending failure, through waveform and spectral analysis of the microseismic events. This paper briefly reviews and summarizes the recent developments of research activities of monitoring and analysis of microseismicity induced due to mining, and during the preparations for radioactive waste disposal in deep geological formations.