Induced seismicity in the Castanhão reservoir, NE Brazil — Preliminary results

Ferreira, Joaquim Mendes; França, George Sand; Vilar, C. S.; Nascimento, Aderson F. do; Bezerra, Francisco H.R.; Assumpção, Marcelo

doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2006.11.011

Cited by 17 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Earthquakes induced by filling of large hydroelectric reservoirs or fluid injection under high pressure in deep wells are common phenomena that have been studied in several cases (Assumpção et al, 2002;Chimpliganond et al, 2007;Ferreira et al, 2008;Gupta, 1992;Simpson et al, 1988;Talwani and Acree, 1984;Talwani et al, 2007, among others). However, earthquakes induced by groundwater extraction from deep wells are extremely rare.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

TDEM survey in an area of seismicity induced by water wells in Paraná sedimentary basin, Northern São Paulo State, Brazil

Porsani¹,

Almeida²,

Bortolozo³

et al. 2012

Journal of Applied Geophysics

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

TDEM survey in an area of seismicity induced by water wells in Paraná sedimentary basin, Northern São Paulo State, Brazil

Porsani¹,

Almeida²,

Bortolozo³

et al. 2012

Journal of Applied Geophysics

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“…This occurred in the Açu reservoir [ Ferreira et al , 1995], where an annual water level variation of only about 3–5 m was enough to cause earthquakes with a delay of about 2 months. In Brazil, a total of 20 cases of RTS have been reported [ Assumpção et al , 2002; Chimpliganond et al , 2007; Ferreira et al , 2008], many of them near the northeastern border of the intracratonic Paraná Basin (Figure 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seismic activity triggered by water wells in the Paraná Basin, Brazil

Assumpção

Yamabe

Barbosa

et al. 2010

Water Resources Research

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[1] Triggered seismicity is commonly associated with deep water reservoirs or injection wells where water is injected at high pressure into the reservoir rock. However, earth tremors related solely to the opening of groundwater wells are extremely rare. Here we present a clear case of seismicity induced by pore-pressure changes following the drilling of water wells that exploit a confined aquifer in the intracratonic Paraná Basin of southeastern Brazil. Since 2004, shallow seismic activity, with magnitudes up to 2.9 and intensities V MM, has been observed near deep wells (120-200 m) that were drilled in early 2003 near the town of Bebedouro. The wells were drilled for irrigation purposes, cross a sandstone layer about 60-80 m thick and extract water from a confined aquifer in fractured zones between basalt flow layers. Seismic activity, mainly event swarms, has occurred yearly since 2004, mostly during the rainy season when the wells are not pumped. During the dry season when the wells are pumped almost continuously, the activity is very low. A seismographic network, installed in March 2005, has located more than 2000 microearthquakes. The events are less than 1 km deep (mostly within the 0.5 km thick basalt layer) and cover an area roughly 1.5 km × 5 km across. The seismicity generally starts in a small area and expands to larger distances with an equivalent hydraulic diffusivity ranging from 0.06 to 0.6 m 2 /s. Geophysical and geothermal logging of several wells in the area showed that water from the shallow sandstone aquifer enters the well at the top and usually forms waterfalls. The waterfalls flow down the sides of the wells and feed the confined, fractured aquifer in the basalt layer at the bottom. Two seismic areas are observed: the main area surrounds several wells that are pumped continuously during the dry season, and a second area near another well (about 10 km from the first area) that is not used for irrigation and not pumped regularly. The main area displays cyclic annual activity, but the second area does not. We explain the earthquake swarms as being triggered by pore pressure diffusion in the fractured basalt layer due to additional pressure from the newly connected surface aquifer. This reaches critically prestressed areas up to a few kilometers away from the wells. During periods of continuous pumping, the reduction of pore pressure in the confined aquifer stops the seismic activity. Our study suggests that this kind of activity may be more common than previously thought and implies that many other cases of small tremors associated with the drilling of water wells may have gone unnoticed.

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“…Trabalhos de compilação dos casos de SDR no Brasil (Assumpção et al 2002;França et al 2009) geralmente não se aprofundam nesta discussão. Ferreira et al (2008a) discutiram o papel de estruturas dúcteis na geração dos sismos associados ao lineamento Pernambuco; enquanto Ferreira et al (2008b) atribuem a causa do evento de SDR da UHE Castanhão a um conjunto de falhas rúpteis que cortam a estrutura.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Influência de estruturas brasilianas na sismicidade desencadeada por reservatório na Usina Hidrelétrica de Irapé, Minas Gerais, Brasil

Silva¹,

Filho²,

Huelsen³

et al. 2014

Braz. J. Geol.

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RESUMO:Inaugurada em 2006, a Usina Hidrelétrica de Irapé possui a mais alta barragem do país, com 210 m, que vem sendo monitorada pelo Observatório Sismológico da Universidade de Brasília desde o começo do enchimento de seu reservatório. Apresentando sismicidade causada pelo aumento da tensão crustal logo após o início do represamento, a Sismicidade Desencadeada por Reservatório da Usina Hidrelétrica de Irapé permanece como um importante objeto de estudo para o entendimento deste fenômeno. O presente trabalho se propôs a estudar a sismicidade registrada de janeiro a maio de 2006, assim como a caracterizar a geologia ao redor da Usina Hidrelétrica de Irapé com o intuito de identificar e descrever as estruturas que permitam melhor compreender os eventos sísmicos. A orientação espacial dos eventos sísmicos obtidos pela análise das polaridades e da forma de onda condiz com aquelas dos lineamentos de relevo. As estruturas encontradas podem ser associadas a uma maior, de direção principal NE/SW, com dezenas de quilômetros, que seria responsável pela captura dos rios Jequitinhonha e Araçuaí, interpretada neste trabalho como uma estrutura relacionada a uma fase tardia do Evento Brasiliano. O diagrama de solução do mecanismo focal gerado utilizando um método de inversão da forma de onda no domínio do tempo indica que a direção dos possíveis planos de falhas está correlacionada ao principal direcionamento das estruturas rúpteis na área de trabalho. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: reativação sísmica de estruturas geológicas; estudos de sismicidade desencadeada por reservatório; Usina Hidrelétrica de Irapé.ABSTRACT: Inaugurated in 2006, the Irapé Hydroelectric Plant has the highest dam in Brazil, with 210 m. The Seismological Observatory of the University of Brasilia is monitoring this structure since the beginning of its reservoir filling. The reservoir triggered seismicity caused by the increase of crustal tension just after the start of the remains like an important object of study for understanding this phenomenon. This paper aims at studying the seismicity recorded from January to May 2006, as well as to characterize the geology around the Hydroelectric Plant Irapé in order to identify and describe the structures that help for better understanding the seismic events. The spatial orientation of the seismic events obtained by analyzing polarity and waveform is consistent with the guidance of prominent relief lineaments. These faults can be found attached to a larger structure with main NE/SW direction and tens of kilometers, which would be responsible for capturing Jequitinhonha and Araçuaí rivers. This great lineament is interpreted herein as a structure related to a late stage of the Brasiliano-Panafrican event. The solution of focal mechanism, created using an inversion method of the waveform in the time domain, indicates that the direction of the possible plans are correlated to main failure of brittle structures targeting the area of work.

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Induced seismicity in the Castanhão reservoir, NE Brazil — Preliminary results

Cited by 17 publications

References 15 publications

TDEM survey in an area of seismicity induced by water wells in Paraná sedimentary basin, Northern São Paulo State, Brazil

TDEM survey in an area of seismicity induced by water wells in Paraná sedimentary basin, Northern São Paulo State, Brazil

Seismic activity triggered by water wells in the Paraná Basin, Brazil

Influência de estruturas brasilianas na sismicidade desencadeada por reservatório na Usina Hidrelétrica de Irapé, Minas Gerais, Brasil

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