Induced Seismicity during the Stimulation of a Geothermal HFR Reservoir in the Cooper Basin, Australia

Baisch, Stefan; Weidler, Ralph; Vörös, Robert; Wyborn, D.; Graaf, L. de

doi:10.1785/0120050255

Cited by 148 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The contemporary stress regime is one of regional compression with σ 3 vertical and regional σ 1 oriented 082° ± 5° (Holl and Barton 2015). The basement assemblage below the insulating blanket of cover sediments is a significant source of radiogenic heat, and the region has been assessed as an enhanced geothermal system (EGS) with a temperature of c. 250 °C encountered at the base of a borehole some 4.25 km deep (Baisch et al 2006). A series of injection experiments down different wells produced a tabular, flat-lying microearthquake swarm <100-150 m thick extending initially over an area of 2 km × 1.5 km, but expanding significantly with further injection experiments (Baisch et al 2009(Baisch et al , 2015Cox 2016), and dipping very gently WSW (Fig.…”

Section: Cooper Basin Induced Microearthquake Swarmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tensile overpressure compartments on low-angle thrust faults

Sibson

2017

Earth Planets Space

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Hydrothermal extension veins form by hydraulic fracturing under triaxial stress (principal compressive stresses, σ 1 > σ 2 > σ 3 ) when the pore-fluid pressure, P f , exceeds the least compressive stress by the rock's tensile strength. Such veins form perpendicular to σ 3 , their incremental precipitation from hydrothermal fluid often reflected in 'crackseal' textures, demonstrating that the tensile overpressure state, σ 3 ′ = (σ 3 − P f ) < 0, was repeatedly met. Systematic arrays of extension veins develop locally in both sub-metamorphic and metamorphic assemblages defining tensile overpressure compartments where at some time P f > σ 3 . In compressional regimes (σ v = σ 3 ), subhorizontal extension veins may develop over vertical intervals <1 km or so below low-permeability sealing horizons with tensile strengths 10 < T o < 20 MPa. This is borne out by natural vein arrays. For a low-angle thrust, the vertical interval where the tensile overpressure state obtains may continue down-dip over distances of several kilometres in some instances. The overpressure condition for hydraulic fracturing is comparable to that needed for frictional reshear of a thrust fault lying close to the maximum compression, σ 1 . Under these circumstances, especially where the shear zone material has varying competence (tensile strength), affecting the failure mode, dilatant fault-fracture mesh structures may develop throughout a tabular rock volume. Evidence for the existence of fault-fracture meshes around low-angle thrusts comes from exhumed ancient structures and from active structures. In the case of megathrust ruptures along subduction interfaces, force balance analyses, lack of evidence for shear heating, and evidence of total shear stress release during earthquakes suggest the interfaces are extremely weak (τ < 40 MPa), consistent with weakening by nearlithostatically overpressured fluids. Portions of the subduction interface, especially towards the down-dip termination of the seismogenic megathrust, are prone to episodes of slow-slip, non-volcanic tremor, low-frequency earthquakes, very-low-frequency earthquakes, etc., attributable to the activation of tabular fault-fracture meshes at low σ 3 ′ around the thrust interface. Containment of near-lithostatic overpressures in such settings is precarious, fluid loss curtailing mesh activity.© The Author(s) 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

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Section: Cooper Basin Induced Microearthquake Swarmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tensile overpressure compartments on low-angle thrust faults

Sibson

2017

Earth Planets Space

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“…In Europe, locations include the Lower Rhine Graben site in Soultz-sous-Forêts, France (Evans et al, 2005), the Upper Rhine Graben site in Basel, Switzerland (Häring et al, 2008), Icelandic geothermal test sites , Latera (Italy) and Groß Schönebeck in the North German Basin (Kwiatek et al, 2010). Non-European sites investigated include Berlin, El Salvador (Bommer et al, 2006;Kwiatek et al, 2014), The Geysers in California, USA (Oppenheimer, 1986;Majer et al, 2007), Cooper Basin (Asanuma et al, 2005;Baisch et al, 2006) and Paralana (Hasting et al, 2011;Albaric et al, 2014), both in Australia and Bouillante in Guadeloupe (Sanjuan et al, 2010;Calcagno et al, 2012). Two reference sites were included, where seismicity was induced by other than geothermal causes.…”

Section: Seismic Response To Fluid Injection: Network Design Velocitmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Induced seismicity in geothermal settings has been documented in areas such as Indonesia (Silitonga et al, 2005;Mulyadi, 2010), the Philippines (Bromley et al, 1986), Japan (Nagano et al, 1994), Kenya (Simiyu, 1999), North and South America (Henderson et al, 2002;Yamabe and Hamza, 1996), Australia (Baisch et al, 2006) and New Zealand (Hunt and Latter, 1982) for over 40 years. In Europe, an early description of industrial exploitation of geothermal resources was published by Batchelor and Garnish (1990).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of induced seismicity in geothermal reservoirs – An overview

et al. 2014

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In this overview we report results of analysing induced seismicity in geothermal reservoirs in various tectonic settings within the framework of the European Geothermal Engineering Integrating Mitigation of Induced Seismicity in Reservoirs (GEISER) project. In the reconnaissance phase of a field, the subsurface fault mapping, in situ stress and the seismic network are of primary interest in order to help assess the geothermal resource. The hypocentres of the observed seismic events (seismic cloud) are dependent on the design of the installed network, the used velocity model and the applied location technique. During the stimulation phase, the attention is turned to reservoir hydraulics (e.g., fluid pressure, injection volume) and its relation to larger magnitude seismic events, their source characteristics and occurrence in space and time. A change in isotropic components of the full waveform moment tensor is observed for events close to the injection well (tensile character) as compared to events further away from the injection well (shear character). Tensile events coincide with high Gutenberg-Richter -values and low Brune stress drop values. The stress regime in the reservoir controls the direction of the fracture growth at depth, as indicated by the extent of the seismic cloud detected. Stress magnitudes are important in multiple stimulation of wells, where little or no seismicity is observed until the previous maximum stress level is exceeded (Kaiser Effect). Prior to drilling, obtaining a 3D -wave ( ) and -wave velocity ( ) model down to reservoir depth is recommended. In the stimulation phase, we recommend to monitor and to locate seismicity with high precision (decametre) in real-time and to perform local 4D tomography for velocity ratio ( / ). During exploitation, one should use observed and model induced seismicity to forward estimate seismic hazard so that field operators are in a position to adjust well hydraulics (rate and volume of the fluid injected) when induced events start to occur far away from the boundary of the seismic cloud.

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“…There is abundant evidence of fluid flow in EGS sites being dominated by fractures [143][144][145][146], which is why it should be taken into account by modelling. Several approaches to stochastic fracture network description have been proposed and are used by simulators presented below [90,147].…”

Section: Fracture-oriented Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Induced seismicity in geothermal reservoirs: A review of forecasting approaches

Gaucher

Schoenball

Heidbach

et al. 2015

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

153

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In order to reach Europe's 2020 and 2050 targets in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, geothermal resources will have to contribute substantially to meeting carbon-free energy needs. However, public opinion may prevent future large-scale application of deep geothermal power plants, because induced seismicity is often perceived as an unsolicited and uncontrollable side effect of geothermal development. In the last decade, significant advances were made in the development of models to forecast induced seismicity, which are either based on catalogues of induced seismicity, on the underlying physical processes, or on a hybrid philosophy. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive overview of the existing approaches applied to geothermal contexts. This overview will outline the advantages and drawbacks of the different approaches, identify the gaps in our understanding, and describe the needs for geothermal observations. Most of the forecasting approaches focus on the stimulation phase of enhanced geothermal systems which are most prone to generate seismic events. Besides the statistical models suited for realtime applications during reservoir stimulation, the physics-based models have the advantage of considering subsurface characteristics and estimating the impact of fluid circulation on the reservoir. Hence, to mitigate induced seismicity during major hydraulic stimulations, application of hybrid methods in a decision support system seems the best available solution. So far, however, little attention has been paid to geochemical effects on the failure process and to production periods. Quantitative modelling of induced seismicity still is a challenging and complex matter. Appropriate resources remain to be invested for the scientific community to continue its research and development efforts to successfully forecast induced seismicity in geothermal fields. This is a prerequisite for making this renewable energy resource sustainable and accessible worldwide.

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Induced Seismicity during the Stimulation of a Geothermal HFR Reservoir in the Cooper Basin, Australia

Cited by 148 publications

References 22 publications

Tensile overpressure compartments on low-angle thrust faults

Tensile overpressure compartments on low-angle thrust faults

Analysis of induced seismicity in geothermal reservoirs – An overview

Induced seismicity in geothermal reservoirs: A review of forecasting approaches

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