Induced Seismicity
Excess hydraulic heads (pressure) after 4 years of constant-rate fluid injection near a conduit-barrier type fault zone. Transition from gray to dark blue contour (and all subsequent contour lines) denotes a 2-m increase in hydraulic head (0.02 MPa). Injection well location is shown above the figure panel. Each tick mark on the panel edge represents 250 m. If such pressure increases occur on critically-stressed faults, they can trigger earthquakes.
Induced seismicity is typically minor earthquakes and tremors that are caused by human activity that alters the stresses and strains on Earth’s crust. Such earthquakes can be induced by deep injection of waste water by the oil industry.
The link between wastewater reinjection into basal reservoirs – that is, reservoir formations located directly on top of basement rocks – and triggered seismicity within the underlying crystalline basement has been documented at a number of sites in the United States.
Induced seismicity can also be caused by the injection of carbon dioxide as the storage step of carbon capture and storage, which aims to sequester carbon dioxide captured from fossil fuel production or other sources in Earth’s crust as a means of climate change mitigation.
Highlighted Works
Ortiz, J. P., Person, M. A., Mozley, P. S., Evans, J. P., & Bilek, S. L. (2019). The role of fault‐zone architectural elements on pore pressure propagation and induced seismicity. Groundwater, 57(3), 465-478.
Petrie, E. S., Bradbury, K. K., Cuccio, L., Smith, K., Evans, J. P., Ortiz, J. P., Kerner, K., Person, M., & Mozley, P. (2020). Geologic characterization of nonconformities using outcrop and core analogs: hydrologic implications for injection-induced seismicity. Solid Earth, 11(5), 1803-1821.
Zhang, Y., Edel, S. S., Pepin, J., Person, M., Broadhead, R., Ortiz, J. P., Bilek, S. L., Mozley, P. S., & Evans, J. P. (2016). Exploring the potential linkages between oil‐field brine reinjection, crystalline basement permeability, and triggered seismicity for the Dagger Draw Oil field, southeastern New Mexico, USA, using hydrologic modeling. Geofluids, 16(5), 971-987.