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TitleGround-motion characteristics of the 30 November 2018 injection-induced earthquake sequence in northeast British Columbia, Canada
 
AuthorBabaie Mahani, A; Kao, HORCID logo; Atkinson, G M; Assatourians, K; Addo, K; Liu, Y
SourceSeismological Research Letters vol. 90, no. 4, 2019 p. 1457-1467, https://doi.org/10.1785/0220190040
Image
Year2019
Alt SeriesNatural Resources Canada, Contribution Series 20190073
PublisherSeismological Society of America (SSA)
Documentserial
Lang.English
Mediapaper; on-line; digital
File formatpdf (Adobe® Reader®); html
ProvinceBritish Columbia; Alberta
NTS83D; 83E; 83K; 83L; 83M; 83N; 84C; 84D; 84E; 84L; 93G; 93H; 93I; 93J; 93O; 93P; 94A; 94B; 94G; 94H; 94I; 94J
AreaSeptimus; Fort St. John; Dawson Creek; Fort Nelson; Grand Prairie; Peace River
Lat/Long WENS-123.0000 -116.0000 59.0000 53.0000
Subjectsgeophysics; fossil fuels; Science and Technology; petroleum industry; hydrocarbon recovery; hydraulic fracturing; seismology; earthquakes; seismic risk; dams; seismic waves; earthquake magnitudes; models; array seismology; seismological network; Site C Dam; Canadian Cordillera; Infrastructures
Illustrationstables; location maps; focal mechanisms; plots; time series
ProgramEnvironmental Geoscience Shale Gas - induced seismicity
Released2019 06 19
AbstractOn 30 November 2018, three felt earthquakes occurred in the Septimus region of northeast British Columbia in an area where hydraulic fracturing was in progress. The proximity of oil and gas activities to populated areas and to critical infrastructure including major dams raises significant concern regarding the seismic hazard posed by moderate induced events and motivates study of their ground motions. Here, we analyze the ground-motion amplitudes from these events recorded between 3 and 400 km. We use three-component waveforms from 45 seismometer and accelerometer sensors to analyze the observed ground motions. The moment magnitude (Mw) of the first event is estimated as 4.6 using the vertical pseudoresponse spectral acceleration (PSA) based on the relations provided by Novakovic et al. (2018). The Mw for the two smaller earthquakes are 3.5 and 4.0. The intensity of shaking from the Mw 4.6 and 4.0 events generally exceeded modified Mercalli intensity (MMI) VI at distances <6 km. The maximum duration above the MMI VI threshold at the closest station (3.5 km distance) from the mainshock is 1.6 s. The observed ground motions agree with the ground-motion prediction equation (GMPE) of Novakovic et al. (2018) for induced events in Oklahoma, with attenuation modified to match that for the study region, assuming typical regional site amplification. The inferred value of stress drop for the mainshock and the largest aftershock is approximately 50 bars based on the agreement of observed PSA values with the Novakovic et al. (2018) GMPE.
Summary(Plain Language Summary, not published)
This study investigates the ground motion characteristics associated with the Nov 30, 2018, injection-induced earthquake sequence in northeast British Columbia. The mainshock had a magnitude of 4.6, and the two largest aftershocks are M 3.5 and 4.0, respectively. The largest shaking was observed at distances less than 6 km from the epicenter. The duration of the strong shaking is 1.6 s. The observed ground motions agree with theoretical model predictions.
GEOSCAN ID314701

 
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