Proceedings of the Instrumentation and Metrology in Gravimetry (IMG 2002) Workshop, Cahiers du Centre Européen de

Géodynamique et de Séismologie, Luxembourg, 22, 95-98, 2003.

Man-induced subsidence in Jülich observed by the

FG5#202 absolute gravimeter in a noisy environment

Michel Van Camp,

Royal Observatory of Belgium, Avenue Circulaire, 3, B-1180 Bruxelles. mvc@oma.be

Abstract. Since October 2000, absolute gravity
(AG) measurements have been performed twice a
year at the Jülich Research Centre. This station,
located in an industrialised area, suffers from high
noise, mainly due to the vibrations imparted to the
unconsolidated soil by the opencast brown coal
mines located at 4 km from the Research Centre. To
prevent the mines from being flooded, continuous
water pumping has been carried out for 50 years,
causing a subsidence of more than 1 cm/yr. The
mining activities induce a single-drop noise lying
between 20 and 150 µGal. When these activities
using the FG5-202 gravimeter have been conducted
along a profile twice a year since September 1999
(Figure 1). This 140 km long profile includes 8
stations across the Belgian Ardenne and the Roer
Graben. The bi-annual rate was chosen to detect
problematic stations as fast as possible as well as
seasonal effects.
The Hague <
<
London Roer

slowdown, the noise decreases between 10 and 25

Brussels % Bensberg
% Jülich
µGal but unfortunately, it is not possible to <
Memb ach

anticipate those quieter periods. However, this paper %

Ru
Sprim ont
% M onschau
%

hr
Manh ay
%
shows the possibility to carry out satisfactory AG % W erpin

% Sohier

measurements, able to evidence the subsidence. By < Luxem bourg

rejecting sets with a single-drop noise usually higher
than 30 µGal, the result of the observations
integrated over more than 72 hours gives a < Paris

reasonable precision on the gravity value lying

between 3.2 and 7.5 µGal. Today, we observe a
trend of +3.8±3.1 µGal/year, which can be caused
by the subsidence observed by repeated levellings
and GPS.
Fig. 1 The Jülich station is one of the 8 stations of a 140 km
long gravity profile across the Roer Graben and the Belgian
Ardenne.

Nowadays FG5 instruments allow measurements

1. Introduction
of the gravity with a precision of the order of 1
µGal. Assuming biannual measurements, one should
In the Roer Graben and the Belgian Ardenne, there
be able to detect a gravity rate of change after 5 to
is a difference of one order of magnitude in the
10 years with an accuracy of 0.5 µGal/yr, i.e. 2.5
inferred vertical crustal movements deduced from
mm/yr assuming a height change of 1 mm causes a
the present day differences of levelling (~1 mm/yr)
change in gravity of 0.2 µGal. By comparison,
and geological information (~0.1 mm/yr). Moreover,
continuous GPS-measurements provide vertical
within such intraplate areas, the tectonic deformation
deformation rate with uncertainties of 2.4 mm/yr on
signal is usually smaller than the error of geodetic
regional scale after one year (Williams (2002),
data. All those observations raise the question of the
Zhang et al. (1997)). Furthermore, the GPS provides
reliability of present-day vertical movements
relative movements by comparison to a reference
inferred from repeated levellings (Van Camp et al.
site that is supposed stable. Thus, the repetition of
(2002)). The actual cause of these movements is not
absolute gravity measurements is an independent
yet settled. The present deformations could be linked
way and an appropriate contribution to evaluate
to the active faults in the Ardenne and/or bordering
absolute vertical crustal movements.
the Roer graben ; to the possible Eifel plume and/or
All but two stations of the profile are in the
to the Fennoscandia post-glacial rebound.
Ardenne, on the western side of the Roer Graben.
In order to better constrain the present-day
The other two, Jülich and Bensberg, are respectively
deformations, absolute gravity (AG) measurements
inside the Graben and east of it. We focus here on

1
the Jülich station, where an anthropic subsidence of
more than 1 cm/yr, due to groundwater withdrawal,
has been observed for more than fifty years. AG
measurements should be able to evidence such a
movement, which will thus act as a testing bench.
2. The FG5 absolute gravimeter
The FG5 absolute gravimeter operates by using the
free-fall method. An object is dropped inside a
vacuum chamber (called the dropping chamber). The
position as a function of time of the freely falling
object is monitored very accurately using a laser
interferometer and an atomic clock. In routine
operation, the drops are repeated each 10 s, 100
times per hour. The average of 100 drops is a “set”;
the corresponding standard deviation represents the
“single-drop noise”. Measurements consist of
several sets at a rate of one set per hour during at
least 24 hours. After correcting measurements for
Earth tides, ocean loading, polar motion and
atmospheric effects, the average value of all sets
provides the final “gravity value” of one experiment
on a given gravity site. In this study, the error bar of
each gravity value represents one standard deviation,
also called “set scatter”.
During each profile, the FG5-202 calibration has
been controlled at the Membach reference station,
where a superconducting gravimeter has been
continuously recording the gravity with a resolution
of 0.1 µGal since 1995.
2 but unfortunately these reductions are impossible
to anticipate.
To improve the measurement precision, we first
tried to raise the drop frequency from 0.1s-1 to 0.2s-1,
but no significant improvement was observed. Better
results have been obtained by increasing the number
of sets to at least 32 sets/day, instead of the usual
rate of 24 sets/day and by measuring as much as
possible at long weekends such as at Easter to avoid
local perturbations. Then, after removing sets for
which the single-drop noise was larger than 50 µGal,
we improved the set scatter by a factor 2 to 5,
depending on the campaign, as illustrated on Figure
2. It was possible to lower this 50 µGal threshold to
30 µGal during the quieter 2002 campaigns.
Applying this method, we obtained a reasonable
precision on the gravity values lying between 3.2
and 7.5 µGal integrated over more than 72 h of
observations.
All the gravity values measured since September
2000 are presented on Figure 3, where a trend of
+3.8±3.1 µGal/year is observed. Assuming this
gravity rate of change is only due to a vertical
motion of the station, this can be interpreted as a
subsidence of -1.9±1.5 cm/yr, taking into account
the free air and Bouguer corrections.
50
Sets
Cumulative Mean: 981110727.70 uGal +/-15.08uGal +/- 1.29uGal
50
Sets
Cumulative Mean: 981110727.70 uGal +/- 3.35uGal +/- 0.48uGal

40 40

30 30

3. The Jülich station 20

10
20

10

uGa 0 uGa 0
l l

-10 -10

In Jülich, the measurements have been performed at -20

-30
-20

-30

the Research Centre Jülich in a garage of the Section -40

-50
-40

-50

Security and Radiation Protection (“Abteilung Sep 2001

Sat 15 Sun 16
time
Mon 17 6:00
Sun 16Sep 2001
9:00 12:00 15:00
time
18:00 21:00 Mon 17 3:00

(a) (b)
Sicherheit und Strahlenschutz” (ASS), building No 20

04.3). This station, located in an industrialised area,

0
suffers from high noise, mainly due to the vibrations
(c)
imparted to the unconsolidated soil by the Hambach -20
100 80 60 40 20
and Inden opencast brown coal mines, located 4 km 50
Sets
Cumulative Mean: 981110730.57 uGal +/- 5.67uGal +/- 0.43uGal
50
Sets
Cumulative Mean: 981110730.97 uGal +/- 3.68uGal +/- 0.35uGal

away from the Research Centre. The first AG 40 40

30 30

measurement carried out in September 1999 was 20 20

10 10

rejected as too noisy (set scatter over 30 µGal), the uGa 0

l
uGa 0
l

-10 -10

noise probably arising from a nearby pylon -20 -20

-30 -30

imparting its oscillations to the ground and the -40 -40

-50 -50

building housing the experiment. In September Oct 2002

Thu 3 Fri 4 Sat 5
time
Sun 6 Mon 7
Oct 2002
Thu 3 Fri 4 Sat 5
time
Sun 6 Mon 7

2000, we moved into the ASS garage located 130 m (d) 20

(e)
apart but noticed no real improvement. 0

(f)
-20
3.1 Reducing the noise 100 80 60 40 20

Fig. 2 Noise effects on the Jülich absolute gravity

The mining activities cause the single-drop noise to
lie between 20 and 150 µGal, which is 3 to 15 times
larger than usually observed in the other stations of
the profile. When these activities slow down (e.g.
depending on power consumption), the noise
decreases between 10 - 25 µGal as shown on Figure
measurements. (a) Each point represents a set, which is the
average of 100 drops. For legibility, the error bars show the
(single-drop noise / 100 ). The average of all sets provides a
“gravity value”; (b) same as (a) after eliminating all sets with
a single-drop noise > 30 µGal; (c) shows the evolution of the
gravity value and the corresponding set scatter when

2
eliminating sets with successively smaller single-drop noise.
(d); (e); (f): id. but during another measurement campaign. In
(a) the noise decreased drastically during 24 h while the
mining activities were reduced by 75 %. Gravity values in (a):
981110727.7±15.1 µGal, (b): 981110727.7±3.4 µGal, (d):
981110730.6±5.7 µGal and (e): 981110730.6±3.7 µGal.
3.2 Ground water and subsidence
The subsidence is mostly due to continuous water
pumping, which has been performed for 50 years to
prevent the brown coal mines from being flooded
(e.g. Hambach : 200 106 m³/yr during the 90ies). The
induced subsidence is larger than 1 cm/yr (Keysers
et al. (2001)). The AG values are comparable on the
one hand to the subsidence of -1.3 cm/yr obtained
from repeated levellings (-47 cm from 1963 to 2000,
see Stollenwerk (2001)) and on the other hand, to
the -1.9±0.2 cm/yr provided by GPS observations
since 1993 (Keysers (2001)). Assuming the same
seasonal effects, other things being equals, we
should be able to confirm the gravity rate of change
at the 95% confidence level at the beginning of
2004, and at the 99% level one year later.
20.0
10.0
µGal
0.0
-10.0
2000 2001 2002 2003
Fig. 3 Absolute “gravity values” at Jülich. The error bars, or
“set scatters”, represent one standard deviation on the mean of
the finally selected sets (single-drop noise < 50 µGal in 2000
& 2001, < 30 µGal in 2002). The figure shows the variations
with respect to the first measurements (981 110724.31±7.3
µGal). A gravity rate of change of 3.8±3.1 µGal/year is
observed. One should be able to constrain this trend at the
95% confidence level in the beginning of 2004.
3.1 The water table
Dozens of boreholes monitor the water tables around
the Jülich Research Centre. There is a first
unconfined aquifer composed of quaternary sands
and gravels (mean porosity = 26%); see Ciocanaru et
al. (2002). It begins 3 meters below the surface and
has a clay base at a depth of ~10 m. The second
aquifer is confined at a depth of 45 to 120 m and
should be mostly affected by the water pumping
responsible for the subsidence (Harms, 2002). As
this aquifer is confined, the storage coefficient is
small and water mass changes due to groundwater
level variations are not supposed to result in
observable gravity changes (Keysers et al., 2001).
On the other hand, the first aquifer is mainly
affected by seasonal variations that could induce the
seasonal gravity changes observed on Figure 3.
More detailed studies will be performed when
complete wells data series are available.
4. Conclusion and perspectives
We have presented the first results of absolute
gravity measurements performed twice a year since
2000 at the Jülich Research Centre. We have shown,
thanks to an adequate sampling rate and data
processing, the possibility to improve the set scatter
by a factor 2 to 5. In this way, in spite of the noisy
environment, we carried out satisfactory
measurements, with the precision on the gravity
values lying between 3.2 - 7.5 µGal. The observed
gravity rate of change of +3.8±3.1 µGal/year can be
interpreted as a subsidence of -1.9±1.5 cm/yr,
comparable to the repeated levellings and GPS
measurements. The gravity rate of change should be
confirmed at the 95% confidence level in the
beginning of 2004, and at the 99% level one year
later.
The Jülich observations are a long-term project
and will act as a testing bench. This will allow us to
get a better idea about the potential of repeated AG
measurements and to get an insight into mass
redistribution phenomena related to gradual surface
subsidence. Our absolute gravity measurements
complement other geodetic measurements such as
relative gravity campaigns, repeated levellings,
differential SAR interferometry (Synthetic Aperture
Radar, see Kircher et al. (2002)) and GPS
measurements already performed in the Jülich area
and, more generally, around the brown coal mining
region.
To correct the seasonal effects accurately, we plan
to investigate in details the hydrological background
around Jülich (e.g. collecting sufficiently long
borehole level series and computing effects of the
aquifer on the gravity measurements), as well as the
gravity effects of the mass transfers in the Inden and
Hambach mines.
Acknowledgements
We are very grateful to Michael Möllmann-Coers
and Eberhard Kuemmerle for welcoming us at the
Jülich Research Centre and to Rainer Harms for
providing wells data. We thank S. Castelein, J.-M.
Delinte and M. Hendrickx for their help during the
3
measurements. The FNRS is acknowledged for
providing funding through grant #2.4546.00.
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