Does Proximity of Hydraulic Fracturing and Wastewater Disposal to Basement Increase the Likelihood of Induced Seismicity in the Central and Eastern US?

靠近地下室的水力压裂和废水处理是否会增加美国中部和东部诱发地震的可能性？

• 批准号: 1614942
• 负责人: Michael Brudzinski
• 金额: $ 35.86万
• 依托单位: Miami University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-07-01 至 2020-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1614942&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Does; Proximity; Hydraulic; Fracturing; Wastewater

Does Proximity of Hydraulic Fracturing and Wastewater Disposal to Geologic Basement Rocks Increase the Likelihood of Seismicity in the Central and Eastern US?Over the past decade, the increased use of enhanced oil and gas recovery operations is thought to be largely responsible for a dramatic rise in earthquakes in the in the Central and Eastern US. However, some areas that have experienced such an increase, such as in Pennsylvania and North Dakota, appear to have little if any earthquakes related to these operations. This study seeks to better understand these geographic differences by examining whether the subsurface proximity of oil and gas operations to geologic basement rocks promotes earthquakes. Located a few miles below the surface, the basement is comprised of igneous and metamorphic rocks that can contain numerous ancient faults. Both hydraulic fracturing and wastewater disposal operations result in deep fluid injection occurring close to the basement may have the potential to reactivate these basement faults, producing earthquakes. This study seeks to test this idea by improving earthquake detection, refining knowledge of how deep the basement is, and comparing these to the geographic location, depth, and timing of oil and gas operations. In particular, the researchers will apply new processing of seismic data to better detect small earthquakes, compile detailed records of well operations from state databases, and produce regional basement-depth maps across the Central and Eastern US. To accomplish these goals, this project will leverage new approaches to developing large-scale undergraduate research involvement. This project will also increase knowledge transfer with geologic surveys, state regulators, and the oil and gas industry. The researchers will continue to build on a track record of public outreach including proactive dissemination and discussion with the news media considering the national debate over hydraulic fracturing. To improve the detection of induced seismicity, this research will first employ a template matching approach that has successfully discerned induced from natural earthquakes. This research will also utilize an emerging technology for detecting the repetitive microseismic swarms commonly associated with induced events, without requiring a previously cataloged earthquake as a template. These approaches will be employed on seismic stations throughout the Central and Eastern US and will provide a more uniform detection of induced seismicity. To improve basement depth characterization, this research will integrate recently constructed basement maps, particularly those by state geological surveys and regional compilations. Deep wells will also help characterize geology between injection/hydraulic fracturing target intervals and basement to determine if the mechanical properties of these subsurface rocks may influence the occurrence of induced earthquakes. This project will actively engage state geologic surveys in the Central and Eastern US to accomplish the project goals. In some cases our research will benefit from existing basement, geologic, or seismicity characterizations performed by state geological surveys and other agencies. In other cases we expect to generate and contribute this information to these institutions. Geologic surveys are also key communicators to the general public, so this research will capitalize on the opportunities to integrate new results from this project with existing educational resources that these state surveys already provide. This project will also utilize new undergraduate curricular structures to introduce foundational research concepts early in a student?s college career to engage a larger number of students in research project such as this one. Mentoring will be formalized to establish thematic research teams focused on the project goals. The results will be disseminate with and beyond the academic community, continuing to engage industry and regulators as well as the general public.

水力压裂和废水处理与地质地下室岩石的邻近性是否增加了美国中部和东部地震的可能性？在过去的十年中，增加了增强的石油和天然气恢复操作的使用被认为是很大程度上负责的是巨大的责任美国中部和东部的地震。 但是，某些经历了这种增长的地区，例如在宾夕法尼亚州和北达科他州，似乎几乎没有与这些行动有关的地震。 这项研究试图通过研究石油和天然气作战与地质地下室岩石的地下邻近性是否促进地震来更好地理解这些地理差异。 地下室位于地面以下几英里处，由火成岩和变质岩石组成，这些岩石可能包含许多古老的断层。 液压压裂和废水处理操作都导致接近地下室的深度注射可能有可能重新激活这些地下室断层，从而产生地震。 这项研究试图通过改善地震检测，完善对地下室的深度知识，并将其与石油和天然气操作的地理位置，深度和时机进行比较来测试这一想法。 特别是，研究人员将采用新的地震数据处理来更好地检测小地震，汇编来自州数据库的井操作的详细记录，并在美国中部和东部产生区域地下室深度地图。 为了实现这些目标，该项目将利用新的方法来开发大规模的本科研究参与。 该项目还将通过地质调查，州监管机构和石油和天然气行业增加知识转移。 研究人员将继续以公众推广的往绩发展，包括积极的传播和与新闻媒体进行讨论，并考虑到有关液压压裂的全国性辩论。 为了改善诱导地震性的检测，这项研究将首先采用一种模板匹配方法，该方法已成功地识别自然地震引起的。 这项研究还将利用一种新兴技术来检测通常与诱发事件相关的重复的微丝群，而无需先前的地震作为模板。 这些方法将采用在美国中部和东部的地震台上，并将提供对诱导地震性的更统一的检测。 为了改善地下深度表征，这项研究将整合最近构建的地下图，尤其是根据州地质调查和区域汇编的图。 深井还将有助于表征注射/液压压裂目标间隔和地下室之间的地质，以确定这些地下岩石的机械性能是否可能影响诱发地震的发生。 该项目将积极参与美国中部和东部的国家地质调查，以实现项目目标。 在某些情况下，我们的研究将受益于国家地质调查和其他机构进行的现有地下室，地质或地震性特征。 在其他情况下，我们希望为这些机构生成并贡献这些信息。 地质调查也是对公众的关键沟通，因此这项研究将利用将该项目与这些州调查已经提供的现有教育资源相结合的机会。 该项目还将利用新的本科课程结构在学生职业生涯的早期引入基础研究概念，以吸引更多的学生参与研究项目。 指导将被正式建立专注于项目目标的主题研究团队。 结果将随着学术界和超越学术社区而传播，继续吸引行业和监管机构以及公众。