Characterizing the Mechanics of Fracturing from Earthquake Source Parameter and Multiplet Analyses: Application to the Soultz-sous-Forêts Hot Dry Rock site

Abstract

In 2000 and 2003, two massive hydraulic fracturing experiments were carried out at the European Geothermal Hot Dry Rock site at Soultz-sous-Forêts, France. The objective was to create a dense network of enhanced permeability fractures, which would form the heat exchanger. The injection of water in the fractured rock generated a high level of microseismic activity: around 30,000 and 90,000 micro-earthquakes were triggered during the injection of 2000 and 2003 respectively. From this around 14,000 and 9,000 events were then located to characterize the extent of the stimulated zones and hence of the fracture network. Then, the source parameters of each event, like seismic moments and stress drops, were computed automatically to characterize the mechanics of the fracturing. We found for example that the total seismic moment released is proportional to the injected fluid volume. This suggests that the injection flow rate could be a means to control the earthquake strength released during the stimulation and perhaps also control the effectiveness of the stimulation. Finally, we performed a multiplet analysis of a subset of these data to identify microearthquakes having similar waveforms. Multiplets are considered to be microearthquakes that occur on the same fracture plane and therefore may represent either seismically activated structures and/or permeable fractures induced by hydraulic fracturing. We identified 350 multiplets among 1000 analyzed events. We relocated them precisely by cross-spectrum analysis and found that they belong to sub-horizontal structures, likely permeable fractures stimulated by the injection.