Australian Crustal Stress Measurements from Earthquakes and In-Situ Tests

Evidence from 1967 onward indicates substantial horizontal compression across the Australian continent. The dataset includes focal mechanisms from eight earthquakes and in-situ stress measurements from sites including a 200 km north-south traverse near Meckering and Calingiri, and multiple sites in NSW tested during 1978-1979. Data was aggregated by the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Use Cases

• Model regional stress field orientations based on earthquake focal mechanism pressure axes.
• Compare in-situ stress magnitudes and directions from shallow over-coring measurements.
• Analyze spatial variation in compressive stress across different geological regions of Australia.

Strengths

• Includes focal mechanism data from eight earthquakes occurring since 1967.
• Contains in-situ measurements from a 200 km north-south traverse with seven locations.
• Reports specific stress magnitudes, such as 23 MPa and 4 MPa near the Meckering epicentre.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is provided in PDF and HTML formats, which may require extraction for computational analysis.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Compiled from earthquake focal mechanisms, in-situ stress measurements in mines/tunnels/quarries, and surface deformation observations.

Time Range

1967 to 1979

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-10 18:24:58.138860; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australia, including specific sites in Western Australia and New South Wales.