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Induced Seismicity Driven by Fluid Diffusion Revealed by a Near‐Field Hydraulic Stimulation Monitoring Array in the Montney Basin, British Columbia
Author(s) -
Yu H.,
Harrington R. M.,
Liu Y.,
Wang B.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: solid earth
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.983
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 2169-9356
pISSN - 2169-9313
DOI - 10.1029/2018jb017039
Subject(s) - induced seismicity , geology , hydraulic fracturing , seismology , seismometer , poromechanics , geotechnical engineering , porous medium , porosity
This study presents observations using new data from a deployment of eight broadband seismometers surrounding a horizontal well pad at distances of ~1–3 km for the period before, during, and after a hydraulic fracturing treatment in the Montney Basin, British Columbia, Canada. We use a multistation‐matched filter detection and double‐difference earthquake relocation to develop a catalog of 350 events associated with hydraulic fracturing stimulation, with magnitudes ranging from −2.8 to 1.8 and estimated catalog completeness of approximately −0.2. The seismicity distribution suggests a statistically significant association with injection, and event migration can be described by a hydraulic diffusivity of ~0.2 m 2 /s. A comparison between daily seismicity rate and analytical stress evolution inferred from daily injection volumes implies that pore pressure diffusion largely controls earthquake nucleation at distances less than 1 km, whereas poroelastic stress transfer likely dominates at intermediate distances of ~1–4 km at time scales shorter than diffusion. Both mechanisms likely have a limited effect on stress perturbation at distances over 5 km.