Non-double-couple Mechanisms of Microearthquakes Induced by Hydraulic Fracturing

Šı́lený, Jan; Eisner, Leo; Hill, David P.; Cornet, F. H.

doi:10.3997/2214-4609.20147842

Cited by 15 publications

(12 citation statements)

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“…Sileny et al . [] showed additional evidences for the role of fluids on the rupture mode of seismic events. Moment tensor analysis of M 1.7+ earthquakes of the Basel sequence also indicated a change from tensile faulting earthquakes during the stimulation phase and close to the injection well to double‐couple earthquakes in the postsimulation phase and further away from the well bore [ Zhao et al ., ; Guilhem and Walter , ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moment tensor inversions of M ~ 3 earthquakes in the Geysers geothermal fields, California

et al. 2014

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Microearthquakes have come into high public awareness due to being induced by the development and exploitation of enhanced and natural geothermal fields, hydrofracturing, and CO 2 sequestration sites. Characterizing and understanding the faulting process of induced earthquakes, which is generally achieved through moment tensor inversion, could both help in risk prediction and in reservoir development monitoring. However, this is a challenging task because of their lower signal-to-noise ratio at frequencies typically used in earthquake source analyses. Therefore, higher-resolution velocity models and modeling of seismic waves at higher frequencies are required. In this study, we examine both the potentials to obtain moment tensor solutions for small earthquakes and the uncertainty of those solutions. We utilize a short-period seismic network located in the Geysers geothermal field in northern California and limit our study to that which would be achieved by industry in a typical reservoir environment. We obtain full moment tensor solutions of M~3 earthquakes using waveform modeling and first-motion inversions. We find that these two data sets give complimentary but yet different solutions. Some earthquakes correspond possibly to complex processes in which both shear and tensile failures occur simultaneously or sequentially. This illuminates the presence of fluids at depth and their role for the generation of these small-magnitude earthquakes. Finally, since first motions are routinely obtained for all magnitude earthquakes, our approach could be extended to small earthquakes where noise level and complex Green's functions prohibit using waveforms in moment tensor inversions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moment tensor inversions of M ~ 3 earthquakes in the Geysers geothermal fields, California

et al. 2014

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“…Examples of its application for the interpretation of moment tensors of microseismic data are given in Baig and Urbancic (2010) and Sen et al (2013). An alternative approach for the graphical representation of full moment tensor sources have been proposed by Riedesel and Jordan (1989); a microseismicity application of this graphical method is given in Silený, Eisner, Hill, and Cornet (2008). Finally, significant advances in the field of moment tensor decomposition and representation have been recently proposed by Tape and Tape (2012), Chapman and Leaney (2012), and Zhu and Ben-Zion (2013).…”

Section: The Microseismic Sourcementioning

confidence: 96%

Full Waveform Seismological Advances for Microseismic Monitoring

Cesca¹,

Grigoli²

2015

Advances in Geophysics

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“…Microearthquakes are then triggered along pre-existing natural fractures that are favorably oriented for slip (PEARSON 1981;RUTLEDGE and PHILLIPS 2003;SHAPIRO et al, 2006). Recent studies by SILENY et al (2008) have shown that tensile events are also observed.…”

Section: Review Of the Interpretational Model Of Fracture Growth And mentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpretation of Microseismicity Resulting from Gel and Water Fracturing of Tight Gas Reservoirs

Dinske

Shapiro

Rutledge

2009

Pure Appl. Geophys.

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We provide a comparative analysis of the spatiotemporal dynamics of hydraulic fracturing-induced microseismicity resulting from gel and water treatments. We show that the growth of a hydraulic fracture and its corresponding microseismic event cloud can be described by a model which combines geometry-and diffusion-controlled processes. It allows estimation of important parameters of fracture and reservoir from microseismic data, and contributes to a better understanding of related physical processes. We further develop an approach based on this model and apply it to data from hydraulic fracturing experiments in the Cotton Valley tight gas reservoir. The treatments were performed with different parameters such as the type of treatment fluid, the injection flow rate, the total volume of fluid and of proppant. In case of a gelbased fracturing, the spatio-temporal evolution of induced microseismicity shows signatures of fracture volume growth, fracturing fluid loss, as well as diffusion of the injection pressure. In contrast, in a water-based fracturing the volume creation growth and the diffusion controlled growth are not clearly separated from each other in the space-time diagram of the induced event cloud. Still, using the approach presented here, the interpretation of induced seismicity for the gel and the water treatments resulted in similar estimates of geometrical characteristics of the fractures and hydraulic properties of the reservoir. The observed difference in the permeability of the particular hydraulic fractures is probably caused by the different volume of pumped proppant.

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Non-double-couple Mechanisms of Microearthquakes Induced by Hydraulic Fracturing

Cited by 15 publications

References 0 publications

Moment tensor inversions of M ~ 3 earthquakes in the Geysers geothermal fields, California

Moment tensor inversions of M ~ 3 earthquakes in the Geysers geothermal fields, California

Full Waveform Seismological Advances for Microseismic Monitoring

Interpretation of Microseismicity Resulting from Gel and Water Fracturing of Tight Gas Reservoirs

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