Elevated Seismic Hazard in Kansas Due to High‐Volume Injections in Oklahoma

Zhai, Guang; Shirzaei, Manoochehr; Manga, Michael

doi:10.1029/2019GL085705

Title: Elevated Seismic Hazard in Kansas Due to High‐Volume Injections in Oklahoma

Journal Article · Tue Mar 10 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Geophysical Research Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL085705· OSTI ID:1603828

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School of Earth and Space Exploration Arizona State University Tempe AZ USA, Department of Earth and Planetary Science University of California Berkeley CA USA, Berkeley Seismological Laboratory University of California Berkeley CA USA
School of Earth and Space Exploration Arizona State University Tempe AZ USA
Department of Earth and Planetary Science University of California Berkeley CA USA, Berkeley Seismological Laboratory University of California Berkeley CA USA

Abstract Induced seismicity has expanded into south‐central Kansas, an area with rare damaging natural earthquakes, leading to the second‐highest seismicity rate in the central United States after Oklahoma. Here we assess the mechanical effects of large‐scale injection in the combined area of western Oklahoma and southern Kansas during 2010–2018 and its link to the observed seismicity using physics‐based hydromechanical and seismicity rate models. Such models link injection operations to seismic hazards and allow solving for the spatially variable distribution of background seismic productivity that yields an acceptable match between the observed and modeled seismicity. We show that injection in Oklahoma amplifies the total Coulomb stress change and seismicity rate by 1.5‐fold and threefold, respectively, in south‐central Kansas. This cross‐border interaction modulates the annual earthquake probability in Kansas. We conclude that the issue of induced seismicity is not a local problem due to the far‐reaching effects of fluid diffusion.

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Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: DE‐SC0019307

OSTI ID:: 1603828

Journal Information:: Geophysical Research Letters, Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters Vol. 47 Journal Issue: 5; ISSN 0094-8276

Publisher:: American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 10 works

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