Mining activities are well known for being able to induce local seismicity but have not yet been shown to cause earthquakes over large distances. We analyze a particular group of seismic events recorded from 2014 to 2016 in north‐central British Columbia (BC) that appear to be triggered by the activities at the Mount Milligan Mine. The spatial distribution of the studied events follows a NW‐SE linear trend, with distances up to approximately 100 km from the mining site. To distinguish mining blasts from blasting‐related and natural events, we adopt a multivariate decision tree based on each event's origin time, distance from the mine, and the pseudo‐spectral acceleration ratios of the three‐component waveforms. The calculated dynamic strains from blasts place a distance limit of 20 km for dynamic triggering. However, accounting for the estimated epicentral uncertainty and temporal distribution of the earthquakes' origin times support the existence of blasting‐triggered events at larger distances (up to ∼50 km) from the mine, suggesting that a previously unmapped fault segment is close to critical state and may have been reactivated. The inferred fault segment aligns remarkably well with the southern extent of the Rocky Mountain Trench and may impose a significant hazard to nearby communities if the entire fault segment of about 150 km‐long ruptures.

中文翻译：

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矿山爆破事件使板内断裂复活：对加拿大西部区域地震危险的启示

众所周知，采矿活动能够引起局部地震，但尚未证明会引起大范围地震。我们分析了2014年至2016年在不列颠哥伦比亚省中北部发生的特定地震事件，这些地震事件似乎是由Milligan矿山的活动触发的。研究事件的空间分布遵循NW-SE线性趋势，距矿区的距离最大约为100 km。为了将爆破与爆破相关事件和自然事件区分开，我们基于每个事件的起源时间，距矿山的距离以及三分量波形的伪谱加速度比，采用多元决策树。从爆炸计算得出的动态应变将动态触发的距离限制设置为20 km。然而，考虑到估计的震中集中不确定性和地震起源时间的时间分布，支持了距矿山较大距离（最大约50 km）的爆破触发事件的存在，表明先前未映射的断层段接近临界状态，并且可能已重新激活。推断出的断层段与落基山海沟的南部非常吻合，如果整个断层段长约150 km，则可能对附近社区造成重大危害。