| Title | Spatiotemporal analysis of seismotectonic state of injection-induced seismicity clusters in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin |
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| Author | Dokht, R M H ;
Kao, H; Mahani, A B; Visser, R |
| Source | Journal of Geophysical Research, Solid Earth vol. 126, issue 4, e2020JB021362, 2021 p. 1-19, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JB021362 |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2021 |
| Alt Series | Natural Resources Canada, Contribution Series 20200746 |
| Publisher | Blackwell Publishing Ltd |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf; html |
| Province | British Columbia; Alberta |
| NTS | 83B; 83C; 83D; 83E; 83F; 83G; 83J; 83K; 83L; 83M; 83N; 83O; 84B; 84C; 84D; 84E; 84F; 84G; 84J; 84K; 84L; 84M; 84N; 84O; 93A; 93B; 93C; 93F; 93G; 93H; 93I; 93J; 93K; 93N; 93O; 93P; 94A; 94B; 94C; 94F; 94G;
94H; 94I; 94J; 94K; 94N; 94O; 94P |
| Area | Peace River; Dawson Creek; Fox Creek; Horn River; Montney |
| Lat/Long WENS | -126.0000 -114.0000 60.0000 52.0000 |
| Subjects | geophysics; Science and Technology; Economics and Industry; Health and Safety; seismology; seismicity; seismic risk; seismological network; earthquake risk; statistical analysis; petroleum industry;
hydrocarbon recovery; hydraulic fracturing; liquid waste disposal; epicentres; tectonic environments; strain analysis; Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin; Waste water |
| Illustrations | location maps; geoscientific sketch maps; plots; tables; time series; histograms |
| Program | Environmental Geoscience Shale Gas - induced seismicity |
| Released | 2021 03 13 |
| Abstract | The observations of spatiotemporal distribution of seismicity in western Canada indicate that the occurrence of earthquakes is tied to the hydraulic fracturing operations and disposal of co-produced
wastewater. In this study, we investigate the temporal changes in the frequency-magnitude distributions for multiple clusters of induced events in regions where the level of background seismicity is low. The induced events are clustered into six
major groups using density-based spatial and soft clustering algorithms based on their epicenters. Each cluster is identified by different distributions of earthquake magnitudes and injection scenarios. The linear relationship between the number of
induced earthquakes and cumulative injection volume enables us, on a regional scale, to quantitatively characterize the seismotectonic conditions of the clusters using the estimates of the seismogenic indices. The calculated seismogenic indices agree
very well with the expected seismic response to hydraulic fracturing and wastewater disposal and show a strong correlation with tectonically accumulated strain energy. Statistical models based on the seismogenic index can be employed to mitigate the
potential risk of large magnitude induced events. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
In western Canada, there has been a considerable increase in seismicity rate linked to oil and gas development activities including hydraulic fracturing
and waste-fluid disposal in deep wells. The hazard posed by the occurrence of injection-induced seismicity is a growing concern for both the general public and regulatory agencies. In this study, we perform a clustering analysis and investigate the
correlation between local seismicity and broadly distributed injection activity in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. We characterize the seismotectonic activity of clusters of fluid-injection sites using the estimates of seismogenic indices. The
seismogenic index provides a means to quantify the potential seismic response of a given site to fluid injection. We observe that there is a higher probability of large-magnitude-induced events in areas of high tectonic deformation rates. The
statistical models presented in this study can be employed to forecast the magnitudes of the largest expected injection-induced events in western Canada, which has implications for mitigating the potential seismic hazard due to fluid
injection. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 328105 |
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