Coincident locations of rupture nucleation during the 2019 Le Teil earthquake, France and maximum stress change from local cement quarrying

Earthquakes occurrence is controlled by tectonic stress load. However, it is now proved that geoengineering operations can contribute enough stress change to cause an earthquake. Industrial operations can produce either increase in the stress load and/or degradation of strength on nearby active faults, rising the potential for failure, or cause break on inactive faults that would have not moved instead. The 2019, MW=4.9, Le Teil (France) earthquake occurred in a relatively low strain rate area. Its location very close to a cement quarry, where significant mass removal has been continuously carried out for almost two centuries, raises questions about the possible link between stress change associated with rock extraction and occurrence of earthquakes. Here we show that the anthropic activity could have induced or at least triggered the Le Teil earthquake. In this latter case its occurrence could have been hastened by more than 100,000 years. Our results suggest that further mass removal in the area might induce even stronger earthquakes, by activating deeper sectors of the same fault plane.