A Review of Location Error Estimation Techniques for Mine Microseismicity

Incompleteness of observation systems and data errors render earthquake location strongly ill−posed, exhibiting inherent solution non−uniqueness. Accurate location error analysis is particularly critical for microseismic events, especially in the small scale mining areas. However, complete quantitative estimation of inversion uncertainty for overdetermined problems in seismology remains challenging; the applicability of various approximation methods to mine microseismicity requires further study. This paper reviews the advantages and disadvantages of several earthquake location error estimation methods, including standard deviation calculation based on iterative inversion, Bayesian posterior probability, and statistical approaches. Finally, it identifies persisting challenges in microseismic location and proposes potential pathways for enhancing accuracy and precise error estimation.