| Title | Monitoring the potentially induced seismicity in the St. Lawrence Valley of Quebec, Canada, during the hydraulic fracturing operations of 2006-2010 |
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| Author | Lamontagne, M |
| Source | Seismological Research Letters vol. 90, no. 1, 2018 p. 429-445, https://doi.org/10.1785/0220180041 |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2018 |
| Alt Series | Natural Resources Canada, Contribution Series 20170382 |
| Publisher | Seismological Society of America (SSA) |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf; html |
| Province | Quebec |
| NTS | 21E/03; 21E/04; 21E/05; 21E/06; 21E/11; 21E/12; 21E/13; 21E/14; 21L/03; 21L/04; 21L/05; 21L/06; 21L/11; 21L/12; 21L/13; 21L/14; 31G/01; 31G/02; 31G/07; 31G/08; 31G/09; 31G/10; 31G/15; 31G/16; 31H; 31I;
31J/01; 31J/02; 31J/07; 31J/08; 31J/09; 31J/10 |
| Area | St. Lawrence River; Montreal; New York State; Canada; United States of America |
| Lat/Long WENS | -75.0000 -71.0000 47.0000 45.0000 |
| Subjects | geophysics; environmental geology; fossil fuels; seismicity; earthquakes; epicentres; earthquake magnitudes; petroleum resources; hydrocarbons; gas; hydrocarbon recovery; hydraulic fracturing; Utica
Shales; Environmental hazards |
| Illustrations | tables; location maps; geoscientific sketch maps; time series; profiles |
| Program | Environmental Geoscience Shale Gas - induced seismicity |
| Released | 2018 10 31 |
| Abstract | This article examines a possible link between hydraulic fracturing (HF) operations and the earthquakes recorded in the St. Lawrence Valley (SLV) between Montreal and Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Between
November 2006 and July 2010, HF operations were conducted in 18 different wells to evaluate the shale gas potential of the local Utica shales.
For earthquakes between years 2006 and 2012, we considered the distances between the HF wells and the
epicenters and the time differences between the end of HF activity and the origin times of earthquakes. In addition, Rayleigh (Rg) phases were interpreted as an indicator of a shallow source. It was found that only three shallow focus earthquakes
were within 15 km of HF wells. Shallow tectonic earthquakes are rare occurrences in the SLV (5% of cases), but a shallow source does not necessarily indicates that the event was induced by HF operations. The time interval between the end of HF
operations and the occurrence of these earthquakes varied between 298 (0.81 yr) and 1348 days (3.75 yrs), making a connection very unlikely, especially when the small cumulative volume of fluids that was injected is considered. In conclusion, the HF
operations in the SLV were not connected to any detectable induced seismicity (IS). |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
Between November 2006 and July 2010, hydraulic fracturing (HF) operations were conducted in the St. Lawrence River Valley (SLV) between Montreal and
Quebec City. In light of the induced activity that has been recorded in western Canada, it was decided to examine if some SLV earthquakes were spatially and temporally correlated with HF. The time period between the HF operations and the occurrence
of these earthquakes varied between 298 and 1348 days, making a connection very unlikely. In addition, the small volume of fluids that was injected makes a correlation even less plausible. In conclusion, the HF operations in the SLV were not
connected to any detectable induced seismicity. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 308071 |
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