Downhole Seismic Monitoring at the Geysers
A 500-ft length, 6-level, 3-component, vertical geophone array was permanently deployed within the upper 800 ft of Unocal's well GDCF 63-29 during a plug and abandonment operation on April 7, 1998. The downhole array remains operational after a period of 1 year, at a temperature of about 150 C. Continuous monitoring and analysis of shallow seismicity (<4000 ft deep) has been conducted over that same 1-year period. The downhole array was supplemented with 4 surface stations in late-1998 and early-1999 to help constrain locations of shallow seismicity. Locations occurring within about 1 km ({approximately}3000 ft) of the array have been determined for a subset of high-frequency events detected on the downhole and surface stations for the 10-week period January 6 to March 16, 1999. These events are distinct from surface-monitored seismicity at The Geysers in that they occur predominantly above the producing reservoir, at depths ranging from about 1200 to 4000 ft depth (1450 to -1350 ft elevation). The shallow seismicity shows a northeast striking trend, similar to seismicity trends mapped deeper within the reservoir and the strike of the predominant surface lineament observed over the productive field.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Defense Programs (DP) (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 761386
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-99-2194; TRN: AH200104%%398
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 1999 Geothermal Resources Council Annual Meeting, Reno, NV (US), 10/17/1999--10/20/1999; Other Information: PBD: 17 Oct 1999
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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