Improving Our Understanding of Seismogenic Faults and Operations That Have Induced Seismicity in the Eagle Ford Basin, Texas
Description:
Unlike many areas of the central United States where induced seismicity has been caused by wastewater disposal, most of the earthquakes in the Eagle Ford Basin in Texas have been related to hydraulic fracturing (HF) wells (Fasola et al., 2019; Fasola & Brudzinski, 2023). This includes some of the largest HF-induced earthquakes in the United States, including a M 4.7 earthquake on February 17, 2024 and five events larger than M 4 since 2018 in Karnes County. The seismicity appears to be associated with the Karnes Trough extensional feature, but the detailed pattern of the seismicity and how it relates to faults and HF operations has not been characterized. This study has sought to take advantage of the ~5 years of continuous recordings from the dense (25 km station spacing) seismic network in the area to better detect and locate the seismicity. We have developed a workflow for streamlining the processing that starts with 1) catalog events and phase picks and then performs 2) multistation template matching with automated correlation threshold determination for each template, 3) phase arrival identification for detected matches using cross correlation with the template and other matches, 4) preliminary location of detected matches using the determined phase arrivals, and 5) double difference relocation of template and matched events using cross-correlation enhanced arrival times and a locally determined 1-D velocity model. This approach reveals more than an order of magnitude increase in the number of detected and located earthquakes. Our preliminary results indicate that the seismicity primarily occurs on a series of steeply dipping northeast-southwest trending faults.
Session: Mechanistic Insights into Fluid-induced Earthquakes from the Laboratory to the Field [Poster]
Type: Poster
Date: 4/15/2025
Presentation Time: 08:00 AM (local time)
Presenting Author: James
Student Presenter: Yes
Invited Presentation:
Poster Number: 97
Authors
James Kirchenwitz Presenting Author kirchejc@miamioh.edu Miami University |
Michael Brudzinski Corresponding Author brudzimr@muohio.edu Miami University |
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Improving Our Understanding of Seismogenic Faults and Operations That Have Induced Seismicity in the Eagle Ford Basin, Texas
Session
Mechanistic Insights into Fluid-induced Earthquakes from the Laboratory to the Field