Nontrivial clustering of microseismicity induced by hydraulic fracturing

For induced microseismicity associated with hydraulic fracturing, the frequency-magnitude distribution is typically characterized by a falloff with increasing magnitude that is significantly faster than for seismicity along active fault systems. This characteristic may arise from a break in scale invariance, possibly due to mechanical layering that typifies fine-grained sedimentary rocks in many shale gas and tight oil reservoirs. The latter would imply the presence of spatio-temporal magnitude correlations. Using three microseismic catalogs for well stimulations in widely separated locations with varying hydraulic-fracturing methods, we show that events with similar magnitudes indeed tend to cluster in space and time. In addition, we show that the inter-event time distribution can be described by a universal functional form characterized by two power-laws. One exponent can be related to the presence of inter-event triggering as in aftershock sequences and is a consequence of the Omori-Utsu law. The other one is a reflection of the intrinsic spatial variation in the microseismic response rates. Taken together, these features are indicative of non-trivial spatio-temporal clustering of induced microseismicity and, hence, of direct relevance for time-dependent seismic hazard assessment.

[1]  Jörn Davidsen,et al.  No evidence of magnitude clustering in an aftershock sequence of nano- and picoseismicity. , 2012, Physical review letters.

[2]  Yehuda Ben-Zion,et al.  Earthquake clusters in southern California II: Classification and relation to physical properties of the crust , 2013 .

[3]  Danijel Schorlemmer,et al.  First Results of the Regional Earthquake Likelihood Models Experiment , 2010 .

[4]  Serge A. Shapiro,et al.  Inter event times of fluid induced earthquakes suggest their Poisson nature , 2011 .

[5]  Yasuo Yabe,et al.  Frequency-Magnitude Characteristics Down to Magnitude -4.4 for Induced Seismicity Recorded at Mponeng Gold Mine, South Africa , 2010 .

[6]  M. van der Baan,et al.  Inferring in-situ stress changes by statistical analysis of microseismic event characteristics , 2011 .

[7]  M. Baiesi,et al.  Triggering cascades and statistical properties of aftershocks , 2012 .

[8]  Kristy F. Tiampo,et al.  Seismicity-based earthquake forecasting techniques: Ten years of progress , 2012 .

[9]  Á. Corral,et al.  Statistical similarity between the compression of a porous material and earthquakes. , 2012, Physical review letters.

[10]  Á. Corral,et al.  Comment on "earthquakes descaled: on waiting time distributions and scaling laws". , 2006, Physical review letters.

[11]  S. Wiemer,et al.  Assessing the Quality of Earthquake Catalogues: Estimating the Magnitude of Completeness and Its Uncertainty , 2005 .

[12]  Jörn Davidsen,et al.  Earthquake interevent time distribution for induced micro-, nano-, and picoseismicity. , 2013, Physical review letters.

[13]  D. Turcotte,et al.  Model for the distribution of aftershock interoccurrence times. , 2005, Physical Review Letters.

[14]  A. Daneshy.  Hydraulic Fracturing of Horizontal Wells: Issues and Insights , 2011 .

[15]  Mirko van der Baan,et al.  Hydraulic Fracturing and Seismicity in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin , 2016 .

[16]  J. Duhault.  Cardium Formation Hydraulic “Frac” Microseismic: Observations and Conclusions , 2012 .

[17]  Mirko van der Baan,et al.  Microseismic Monitoring Developments in Hydraulic Fracture Stimulation , 2013 .

[18]  Jörn Davidsen,et al.  Generalized Omori–Utsu law for aftershock sequences in southern California , 2015 .

[19]  Alvaro Corral.  Universal local versus unified global scaling laws in the statistics of seismicity , 2004 .

[20]  Jörn Davidsen,et al.  Are earthquake magnitudes clustered? , 2011, Physical review letters.

[21]  Serge A. Shapiro,et al.  A statistical model for seismic hazard assessment of hydraulic‐fracturing‐induced seismicity , 2015 .

[22]  N. Davatzes,et al.  Differentiating induced and natural seismicity using space‐time‐magnitude statistics applied to the Coso Geothermal field , 2015 .

[23]  J. Brune.  Tectonic stress and the spectra of seismic shear waves from earthquakes , 1970 .

[24]  L de Arcangelis,et al.  Influence of time and space correlations on earthquake magnitude. , 2007, Physical review letters.

[25]  M. Baiesi,et al.  Scale-free networks of earthquakes and aftershocks. , 2003, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[26]  B. Gutenberg,et al.  Frequency of Earthquakes in California , 1944, Nature.

[27]  Sebastian Hainzl,et al.  Nontrivial decay of aftershock density with distance in Southern California , 2014 .

[28]  D. Eaton,et al.  Reservoir characterization using microseismic facies analysis integrated with surface seismic attributes , 2016 .

[29]  Detection and analysis of microseismic events using a Matched Filtering Algorithm (MFA) , 2016 .

[30]  M. Reynolds,et al.  A Direct Comparison of Hydraulic Fracture Geometry and Well Performance Between Cemented Liner and Openhole Packer Completed Horizontal Wells in a Tight Gas Reservoir , 2012 .

[31]  Shlomo Havlin,et al.  Memory in the occurrence of earthquakes. , 2005, Physical review letters.

[32]  I. Zaliapin,et al.  Earthquake clusters in southern California I: Identification and stability , 2013 .

[33]  Ilya Zaliapin,et al.  Clustering analysis of seismicity and aftershock identification. , 2007, Physical review letters.

[34]  Jörn Davidsen,et al.  Self-similar aftershock rates. , 2016, Physical review. E.

[35]  D. Eaton,et al.  Breakdown of the Gutenberg‐Richter relation for microearthquakes induced by hydraulic fracturing: influence of stratabound fractures , 2014 .

[36]  Y. Ogata,et al.  The Centenary of the Omori Formula for a Decay Law of Aftershock Activity , 1995 .

[37]  John McCloskey,et al.  Statistical evaluation of characteristic earthquakes in the frequency‐magnitude distributions of Sumatra and other subduction zone regions , 2009 .

[38]  Static stress triggering explains the empirical aftershock distance decay , 2014 .