Structural constraints of induced earthquakes in the Weiyuan Shale Gas Field revealed by high-resolution body-wave tomography and earthquake relocation

Zi, Jinping; Yang, Hongfeng; Su, Jinrong; Chen, Liang

doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2023.230007

Tectonophysics

2023

DOI: 10.1016/j.tecto.2023.230007

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Structural constraints of induced earthquakes in the Weiyuan Shale Gas Field revealed by high-resolution body-wave tomography and earthquake relocation

Jinping Zi,

Hongfeng Yang,

Jinrong Su

et al.

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Cited by 3 publications

References 64 publications

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Stress transfer outpaces injection-induced aseismic slip and triggers seismicity

Yang,

2023

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As concerns rise over damaging earthquakes related to industrial activities such as hydraulic fracturing, geothermal energy extraction and wastewater disposal, it is essential to understand how subsurface fluid injection triggers seismicity even in distant regions where pore pressure diffusion cannot reach. Previous studies suggested long-range poroelastic stressing and aseismic slip as potential triggering mechanisms. In this study, we show that significant stress transfer far ahead of injection-induced aseismic slip can travel at much higher speeds and is a viable mechanism for distant earthquake triggering. It could also explain seismicity migration that is much faster than aseismic slip front propagation. We demonstrate the application of these concepts with seismicity triggered by hydraulic fracturing operations in Weiyuan shale gas field, China. The speed of stress transfer is dependent on the background stress level and injection rate, and can be almost an order of magnitude higher than that of the aseismic slip front.

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Stress transfer outpaces injection-induced aseismic slip and triggers seismicity

Yang,

2023

Sci Rep

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An improved estimation of stress drop and its application on induced earthquakes in the Weiyuan Shale Gas Field in China

Zhang,

Yang,

et al. 2024

Geophysical Journal International

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Summary Stress drop is a proxy of understanding earthquake source process, and it is controversial whether the stress drops of induced earthquakes associated with hydraulic fracturing and injection activities are similar to those of tectonic earthquakes. The measurement of stress drops is usually biased due to the limitations of observation means, or hidden issues in the estimation approaches. Utilizing a local short-period seismic network, we investigate the stress drops of induced earthquakes in Weiyuan Shale Gas Field in Sichuan Province, China from 2019 to 2020. Totally 11844 earthquakes are involved in the analysis, and their stress drops are obtained using an improved approach on the basis of the traditional spectral decomposition method combined with a global optimization algorithm to avoid stacking of spectra that is found leading to source parameter underestimation. We divide the studied area into 3 subareas, and the results show strong stress drop heterogeneity across the entire region. We obtain an average stress drop of 2.29MPa, piecewise stress drop dependence to earthquake magnitude, and complex depth dependence pattern. Our results indicate that stress drops of induced earthquakes are overall consistent with the induced earthquakes in other areas as well as tectonic earthquakes in different environments. Meanwhile, the complexity in the stress drop dependence to depth possibly reflects the variability of stress drops for different earthquake triggering mechanisms.

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Deciphering the low-frequency seismic signals in the Weiyuan Shale gas field: implications for reservoir and structural heterogeneity

Abbas,

Yang,

2024

Geophysical Journal International

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Summary Hydraulic Fracturing (HF) often stimulates the local earthquake productivity which provides a unique opportunity to characterize the crustal heterogeneities, reservoir properties, and fluid injection effects. However, the velocity models acquired solely based on the arrival time records are often undermined due to the seismic network coverage and interpolation techniques. Instead, we adopt the waveform-based approach to apprehend; (1) structural heterogeneities, (2) reservoir distribution, and (3) signatures of the injected fluid in the Weiyuan shale gas field (WSGF). We categorize the waveforms into dominant high and low frequencies based on the qualitative inspection and frequency index analysis of the seismic waveforms. We first inspect the waveform to access the potential controlling mechanisms (source, site, and path effects) at both single and multiple stations in different azimuthal orientations. As a result, we find the path effect as a dominant factor to influence the waveform characteristics, e.g., S-wave amplitude, and frequency. Subsequently, to localize the path effect, we conduct an in-depth examination of events within 10 km of each seismic station and classify the waveform records using their frequency indices. Notably, certain stations record a significant proportion of low-frequency waveforms (LFWs) (up to 20%), while others have limited occurrences (∼1%) indicating suspected anomalous zones. Afterward, we identify two suspected anomalous zones based on LFWs intensity and ray tracing map. Both zones are in close proximity to fault zones and preserved reservoirs with no HF activities, where fault damage zones or the fluid-rich reservoir may contribute to our observed LFWs.

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Structural constraints of induced earthquakes in the Weiyuan Shale Gas Field revealed by high-resolution body-wave tomography and earthquake relocation

Cited by 3 publications

References 64 publications

Stress transfer outpaces injection-induced aseismic slip and triggers seismicity

Stress transfer outpaces injection-induced aseismic slip and triggers seismicity

An improved estimation of stress drop and its application on induced earthquakes in the Weiyuan Shale Gas Field in China

Deciphering the low-frequency seismic signals in the Weiyuan Shale gas field: implications for reservoir and structural heterogeneity

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