Seismicity in Southeastern New Mexico

Session: Mechanisms of Induced Seismicity: Pressure Diffusion, Elastic Stressing and Aseismic Slip [Poster]
Type: Poster
Date: 4/29/2020
Time: 08:00 AM
Room: Ballroom
Description: 

In the past 2 years, the Delaware Basin, an area of oil and gas production in New Mexico and Texas, has experienced an increase in seismicity coincident with the expansion of oil and gas operations in the area. In the New Mexico portion of the basin, which is in the southeastern corner of the state, most of the seismicity straddles the border between Lea and Eddy counties and lies within 50km of the state line with Texas. The Texas portion of the basin has seen more and larger earthquakes (up to M3.4) than observed in New Mexico (M≤2.5). Here, we focus on the seismicity in the New Mexico portion of the basin. Induced seismicity has been occurring in this area since the late 1990s in the Dagger Draw field. Seismicity in Dagger Draw is believed to be induced by wastewater disposal. Dagger Draw is located approximately 70 km northwest of the recent seismicity, so it is likely unrelated to these events.

To better characterize the seismicity in the region, the USGS, in cooperation with the New Mexico Bureau of Geology, is deploying a seismic network in the New Mexico portion of the basin. The network will consist of 15-20 broadband seismometers and accelerometers. The New Mexico Bureau of Geology has operated a regional seismic network in the area for the past 20 years. While this pre-existing network gives a good sense of the background seismicity, the stations are largely to the north of the recent seismicity and the station spacing is large (10-40km) such that location precision and detection thresholds need to be improved for precise earthquake studies. In preparation for the deployment of the network, we will develop a seismic velocity model using catalog data from the pre-existing seismic network and subsequently relocate the seismicity. We will evaluate the evolution of the seismicity in the area and look for relationships between historical and recent seismicity and speculate on the cause of the seismicity.

Presenting Author: Justin Rubinstein

Authors