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Title: Source characteristics and geological implications of the January 2016 induced earthquake swarm near Crooked Lake, Alberta

Journal Article · · Geophysical Journal International
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggx204 · OSTI ID:1485401
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, AB (Canada)
  2. Alberta Geological Survey, Edmonton, AB (Canada)
  3. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  4. Yokohama City Univ. (Japan)

On 2016 January 12, an intraplate earthquake with an initial reported local magnitude (ML) of 4.8 shook the town of Fox Creek, Alberta. While there were no reported damages, this earthquake was widely felt by the local residents and suspected to be induced by the nearby hydraulic-fracturing (HF) operations. We determine the earthquake source parameters using moment tensor inversions, and then detect and locate the associated swarm using a waveform cross-correlation based method. The broad-band seismic recordings from regional arrays suggest a moment magnitude (M) 4.1 for this event, which is the largest in Alberta in the past decade. Similar to other recent M ~ 3 earthquakes near Fox Creek, the 2016 January 12 earthquake exhibits a dominant strike-slip (strike = 184°) mechanism with limited non-double-couple components (~22 per cent). This resolved focal mechanism, which is also supported by forward modelling and P-wave first motion analysis, indicates an NE–SW oriented compressional axis consistent with the maximum compressive horizontal stress orientations delineated from borehole breakouts. Further detection analysis on industry-contributed recordings unveils 1108 smaller events within 3 km radius of the epicentre of the main event, showing a close spatial-temporal relation to a nearby HF well. The majority of the detected events are located above the basement, comparable to the injection depth (3.5 km) on the Duvernay shale Formation. The spatial distribution of this earthquake cluster further suggests that (1) the source of the sequence is an N–S-striking fault system and (2) these earthquakes were induced by an HF well close to but different from the well that triggered a previous (January 2015) earthquake swarm. Reactivation of pre-existing, N-S oriented faults analogous to the Pine Creek fault zone, which was reported by earlier studies of active source seismic and aeromagnetic data, are likely responsible for the occurrence of the January 2016 earthquake swarm and other recent events in the Crooked Lake area.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, AB (Canada); Alberta Geological Survey, Edmonton, AB (Canada)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Geothermal Technologies Office; Natural Resources Canada
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1485401
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-17-22632
Journal Information:
Geophysical Journal International, Vol. 210, Issue 2; ISSN 0956-540X
Publisher:
Oxford University PressCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 39 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (9)

Faults and Non-Double-Couple Components for Induced Earthquakes journal September 2018
Spatiotemporal Variations in Crustal Seismic Anisotropy Surrounding Induced Earthquakes Near Fox Creek, Alberta journal May 2019
Reservoir Stimulation's Effect on Depletion-Induced Seismicity journal September 2018
Frictional Stabilities on Induced Earthquake Fault Planes at Fox Creek, Alberta: A Pore Fluid Pressure Dilemma journal August 2019
Faults and associated karst collapse suggest conduits for fluid flow that influence hydraulic fracturing-induced seismicity journal October 2018
Microseismicity reveals fault activation before Mw 4.1 hydraulic-fracturing induced earthquake journal April 2019
The role of aseismic slip in hydraulic fracturing–induced seismicity journal August 2019
Hydraulic fracturing volume is associated with induced earthquake productivity in the Duvernay play journal January 2018
Performance assessment of the induced seismicity traffic light protocol for northeastern British Columbia and western Alberta journal February 2018

Figures / Tables (9)