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Title: Wastewater disposal and earthquake swarm activity at the southern end of the Central Valley, California

Journal Article · · Geophysical Research Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL066948· OSTI ID:1480711
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [2];  [4]
  1. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)
  2. Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
  3. Univ. of Nice Sophia Antipolis, Nice (France); Institut Univ. de France, Paris (France)
  4. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Fracture and fault zones can channel fluid flow and transmit injection-induced pore pressure changes over large distances (>km), at which seismicity is rarely suspected to be human induced. We use seismicity analysis and hydrogeological models to examine the role of seismically active faults in inducing earthquakes. We analyze a potentially injection-induced earthquake swarm with three events above M4 near the White Wolf fault (WWF). The swarm deviates from classic main aftershock behavior, exhibiting uncharacteristically low Gutenberg-Richter b of 0.6, and systematic migration patterns. Some smaller events occurred southeast of the WWF in an area of several disposal wells, one of which became active just 5 months before the main swarm activity. Hydrogeological modeling revealed that wastewater disposal likely contributed to seismicity via localized pressure increase along a seismically active fault. Furthermore, our results suggest that induced seismicity may remain undetected in California without detailed analysis of local geologic setting, seismicity, and fluid diffusion.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1480711
Journal Information:
Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 43, Issue 3; ISSN 0094-8276
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 57 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (16)

Temporal static stress drop variations due to injection activity at The Geysers geothermal field, California: Static Stress Drop Versus Injection Rate journal July 2017
Reservoir Structure and Wastewater-Induced Seismicity at the Val d'Agri Oilfield (Italy) Shown by Three-Dimensional V p and V p / V s Local Earthquake Tomography: Three-Dimensional LET and Wastewater-Induced Seismicity journal November 2017
Was the Mw 7.5 1952 Kern County, California, earthquake induced (or triggered)? journal October 2017
Fast MW estimation of microearthquakes recorded around the underground gas storage in the Montello-Collalto area (Southeastern Alps, Italy) journal November 2019
Water footprint of hydraulic fracturing in Northeastern British Columbia, Canada journal December 2019
A Probabilistic Approach to Injection‐Induced Seismicity Assessment in the Presence and Absence of Flow Boundaries journal August 2018
Seismicity Induced by Simultaneous Abrupt Changes of Injection Rate and Well Pressure in Hutubi Gas Field journal July 2018
Induced Seismicity Driven by Fluid Diffusion Revealed by a Near‐Field Hydraulic Stimulation Monitoring Array in the Montney Basin, British Columbia journal May 2019
Laboratory Study on Fluid‐Induced Fault Slip Behavior: The Role of Fluid Pressurization Rate journal March 2020
A Consistent High‐Resolution Catalog of Induced Seismicity in Basel Based on Matched Filter Detection and Tailored Post‐Processing journal August 2019
Potential increase in oil and gas well leakage due to earthquakes journal November 2019
The spatial footprint of injection wells in a global compilation of induced earthquake sequences journal August 2018
Influence of reservoir geology on seismic response during decameter-scale hydraulic stimulations in crystalline rock journal January 2020
Influence of reservoir geology on seismic response during decameter-scale hydraulic stimulations in crystalline rock text January 2020
A Consistent High-Resolution Catalog of Induced Seismicity in Basel Based on Matched Filter Detection and Tailored Post-Processing text January 2019
Influence of reservoir geology on seismic response during decameter-scale hydraulic stimulations in crystalline rock text January 2020

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Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
induced seismicity
wastewater disposal
White Wolf fault
fault zone permeability
seismicity migration
b value decrease