Location of hydraulic fractures using microseismic techniques

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1980 · Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6165916

Albright, J N; Pearson, C F

Microearthquakes with magnitudes ranging between -6 and -2 have been observed in 3 successive massive injections of water at the US Department of Energy (DOE) hot dry rock geothermal energy demonstration site at Fenton Hill, New Mexico. The injection was part of a program to increase the heat transfer area of hydraulic fractures and to decrease the flow-through impedance between wells. The microearthquakes were used in mapping the location of the extended hydraulic fractures. Failure resulting from increased pore pressure is a likely cause for the microearthquakes. Knowledge of the failure criterion for the reservoir rocks makes possible the calculation of the pore pressure increases necessary for failure. At Fenton Hill it appears that pressures 20 bars above hydrostatic are necessary. For this hypothesis of microearthquake occurrence to hold, the effective reservoir permeability must be 4 orders of magnitude above that for the bulk rock. 12 references.

• OSTI ID: 6165916
• Report Number(s): CONF-800931-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States) Journal Volume: SPE-9509
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
150301* -- Geothermal Exploration & Exploration Technology-- Geophysical Techniques & Surveys
DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS
DETECTION
EARTHQUAKES
ENERGY SYSTEMS
ENERGY TRANSFER
FAILURES
FEDERAL REGION VI
FLUID INJECTION
FRACTURES
GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS
HEAT TRANSFER
HOT-DRY-ROCK SYSTEMS
HYDRAULIC FRACTURES
MICROEARTHQUAKES
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NEW MEXICO
NORTH AMERICA
PERMEABILITY
POROSITY
RESERVOIR PRESSURE
RESERVOIR ROCK
SEISMIC DETECTION
SEISMIC EVENTS
US DOE
US ORGANIZATIONS
USA
WATERFLOODING