Title: On the Relationship Between Fault Permeability Increases, Induced Stress Perturbation, and the Growth of Aseismic Slip During Fluid Injection

Journal Article · · Geophysical Research Letters
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [2]
  1. Univ. Cote d'Azur, Sophia Antipolis (France); Inst. Univ. de France, Paris (France); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  3. Federal Office of Topography, St‐Ursanne (Switzerland)
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Fluid injections into the deep subsurface can, at times, generate earthquakes, but often, they only produce aseismic deformations. Here we analyze the influence of fault hydromechanical properties on the growth of injection-induced aseismic slip. Using hydromechanical modeling, we show how permeability enhancement in addition to the background stress and frictional weakening has an important effect on the pressure diffusion and slip growth during injection. We find that the more pronounced the fault permeability enhancement, the stronger is the growth of the aseismic slip zone. The effect of enhanced permeability is more pronounced when the fault is initially close to failure. Our results show that aseismic slip grows beyond the pressurized zone when the fault permeability increases, while slip remains behind the pressurized zone when permeability does not vary from its initial preslip value. Furthermore, fault permeability increases should be considered as complementary mechanism to current models of fluid-induced aseismic slip.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1563969
Journal Information:
Geophysical Research Letters, Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters Journal Issue: 20 Vol. 45; ISSN 0094-8276
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (8)

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Modeling of Fault Deformation Driven by Fluid Injection
  • Riga, Vasily; Turuntaev, Sergey; Kocharyan, Gevorg
  • Trigger Effects in Geosystems: The 5th International Conference, Sadovsky Institute of Geospheres Dynamics of Russian Academy of Sciences, p. 279-288 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31970-0_30
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Contrasting Mechanical and Hydraulic Properties of Wet and Dry Fault Zones in a Proposed Shale‐Hosted Nuclear Waste Repository journal February 2019
Disentangling the Simultaneous Effects of Inertial Losses and Fracture Dilation on Permeability of Pressurized Fractured Rocks journal August 2019
Laboratory Study on Fluid‐Induced Fault Slip Behavior: The Role of Fluid Pressurization Rate journal March 2020
Complexity of Fault Rupture and Fluid Leakage in Shale: Insights From a Controlled Fault Activation Experiment journal February 2020

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58 GEOSCIENCES
aseismic slip
fault permeability
fluid injection
hydromechanical coupling
pressure diffusion
stress perturbation