Location Of Microearthquakes Induced By Hydraulic Fracturing
Name
1993.11 Rodi et al.pdf
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Author(s)
Rodi, William
Li, Yingping
Cheng, C. H.
Date Issued
1993
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Earth Resources Laboratory
Series/Report no.
Earth Resources Laboratory Industry Consortia Annual Report;1993-11
Abstract
This paper examines the problem of locating microearthquakes induced by hydraulic
fracturing using seismic arrival time data. In addition to the use of absolute arrival
times measured for individual events, we consider the use of differential arrival times
amongst a set of two or more seismic events as a means of constraining their locations
relative to one another. Differential arrival times can be measured very accurately
using cross-correlation techniques and are less sensitive than absolute arrival times to
subsurface velocity structure. We have developed an algorithm which combines relative
event location techniques with conventional absolute location techniques and applied
it to a set of 19 microearthquakes recorded during a hydraulic fracturing experiment
conducted as part of the Los Alamos Hot Dry Rock project. We find that the events,
except for a few outliers, delineate a planar zone 30 meters in dimension, presumably a
fracture plane. This example shows that the use of differential arrival times improves the accuracy of locating microearthquake clusters and that the relative locations of events within the cluster are better determined than their absolute locations. The results also suggest the need for directional data from three-component stations or better station geometry to further improve location accuracy.
Subjects
Microseismic
Fractures
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