Active‐Source Seismic Imaging of Fault Re‐Activation and Leakage: An Injection Experiment at the Mt Terri Rock Laboratory, Switzerland

Shadoan, Tanner A.; Ajo‐Franklin, Jonathan B.; Guglielmi, Yves; Wood, Todd; Robertson, Michelle; Cook, Paul; Soom, Florian; Daley, Thomas M.; Hopp, Chet; Tribaldos, Verónica Rodríguez; Marchesini, Pierpaolo; Nussbaum, Christophe; Birkholzer, Jens

doi:10.1029/2023GL104080

Title: Active‐Source Seismic Imaging of Fault Re‐Activation and Leakage: An Injection Experiment at the Mt Terri Rock Laboratory, Switzerland

Journal Article · 07 December 2023 · Geophysical Research Letters

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL104080 · OSTI ID:2229199

^[1];

^[2]; Wood, Todd ^[2]; Robertson, Michelle ^[2]; Cook, Paul ^[2];

^[2];

^[3]; Nussbaum, Christophe ^[4]; Birkholzer, Jens ^[2]

Rice University Houston TX USA
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley CA USA
Silixa Ltd London UK
Swisstopo St‐Ursanne Switzerland

Abstract We conducted a time‐lapse seismic experiment utilizing automated active seismic source and sensor arrays to monitor a reactivated fault within the Opalinus clay formation at the Mont Terri Rock Laboratory (Switzerland), an analog caprock for geologic carbon storage. A series of six brine injections were conducted into the so‐called Main Fault to reactivate it. Seismic instrumentation in five monitoring boreholes on either side of the fault was used to continuously probe changes in P‐wave travel‐times associated with fault displacement and leakage. We performed time‐lapse travel‐time tomography on five hundred sequential data sets; this revealed a zone of decreased P‐wave velocity, up to 16 m/s, during each injection cycle, followed by a velocity increase during shut‐in. These results demonstrate varying elastic property perturbations, both spatially and temporally, along the fault plane during reactivation. We then interpreted these velocity changes in terms of fault dilation induced by pressurized fluids along the fault.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 2229199

Journal Information:: Geophysical Research Letters, Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters Journal Issue: 23 Vol. 50; ISSN 0094-8276

Publisher:: American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Title: Active‐Source Seismic Imaging of Fault Re‐Activation and Leakage: An Injection Experiment at the Mt Terri Rock Laboratory, Switzerland

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