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Title: Aseismic Motions Drive a Sparse Seismicity During Fluid Injections Into a Fractured Zone in a Carbonate Reservoir

Abstract

An increase in fluid pressure in faults can trigger seismicity and large aseismic motions. Understanding how fluid and faults interact is an essential goal for seismic hazard and reservoir monitoring, but this key relation remains unclear. We developed an in situ experiment of fluid injections at a 10 meter scale. Water was injected at high pressure in different geological structures inside a fault damaged zone, in limestone at 280 m depth in the Low Noise Underground Laboratory (France). Induced seismicity, as well as strains, pressure, and flow rate, was continuously monitored during the injections. Although nonreversible deformations related to fracture reactivations were observed for all injections, only a few tests generated seismicity. Events are characterized by a 0.5-to-4 kHz content and a small magnitude (approximately -3.5). They are located within 1.5 m accuracy between 1 and 12 m from the injections. Comparing strain measurements and seismicity shows that more than 96% of the deformation is aseismic. The seismic moment is also small compared to the one expected from the injected volume. Moreover, a dual seismic behavior is observed as (1) the spatiotemporal distribution of some cluster of events is clearly independent from the fluid diffusion (2) while a diffusion-type pattern can be observed for somemore » others clusters. Furthermore, the seismicity might therefore appear as an indirect effect to the fluid pressure, driven by aseismic motion and related stress perturbation transferred through failure.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [1];  [4]
  1. Univ. Cote d'Azur, Sophia Antipolis (France)
  2. Univ. Cote d'Azur, Sophia Antipolis (France); Institut Univ. de France, Paris (France)
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  4. Univ. Aix-Marseille, Aix-en-Provence (France)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1479333
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 122; Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 2169-9313
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
58 GEOSCIENCES; induced seismicity; fluid injections; fractured zone; aseismic motions; meter‐scale in situ experiments; hydromechanics

Citation Formats

Duboeuf, Laure, De Barros, Louis, Cappa, Frédéric, Guglielmi, Yves, Deschamps, Anne, and Seguy, Simon. Aseismic Motions Drive a Sparse Seismicity During Fluid Injections Into a Fractured Zone in a Carbonate Reservoir. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1002/2017JB014535.
Duboeuf, Laure, De Barros, Louis, Cappa, Frédéric, Guglielmi, Yves, Deschamps, Anne, & Seguy, Simon. Aseismic Motions Drive a Sparse Seismicity During Fluid Injections Into a Fractured Zone in a Carbonate Reservoir. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JB014535
Duboeuf, Laure, De Barros, Louis, Cappa, Frédéric, Guglielmi, Yves, Deschamps, Anne, and Seguy, Simon. Fri . "Aseismic Motions Drive a Sparse Seismicity During Fluid Injections Into a Fractured Zone in a Carbonate Reservoir". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JB014535. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1479333.
@article{osti_1479333,
title = {Aseismic Motions Drive a Sparse Seismicity During Fluid Injections Into a Fractured Zone in a Carbonate Reservoir},
author = {Duboeuf, Laure and De Barros, Louis and Cappa, Frédéric and Guglielmi, Yves and Deschamps, Anne and Seguy, Simon},
abstractNote = {An increase in fluid pressure in faults can trigger seismicity and large aseismic motions. Understanding how fluid and faults interact is an essential goal for seismic hazard and reservoir monitoring, but this key relation remains unclear. We developed an in situ experiment of fluid injections at a 10 meter scale. Water was injected at high pressure in different geological structures inside a fault damaged zone, in limestone at 280 m depth in the Low Noise Underground Laboratory (France). Induced seismicity, as well as strains, pressure, and flow rate, was continuously monitored during the injections. Although nonreversible deformations related to fracture reactivations were observed for all injections, only a few tests generated seismicity. Events are characterized by a 0.5-to-4 kHz content and a small magnitude (approximately -3.5). They are located within 1.5 m accuracy between 1 and 12 m from the injections. Comparing strain measurements and seismicity shows that more than 96% of the deformation is aseismic. The seismic moment is also small compared to the one expected from the injected volume. Moreover, a dual seismic behavior is observed as (1) the spatiotemporal distribution of some cluster of events is clearly independent from the fluid diffusion (2) while a diffusion-type pattern can be observed for some others clusters. Furthermore, the seismicity might therefore appear as an indirect effect to the fluid pressure, driven by aseismic motion and related stress perturbation transferred through failure.},
doi = {10.1002/2017JB014535},
journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth},
number = 10,
volume = 122,
place = {United States},
year = {2017},
month = {10}
}

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