S21C-05
Surface uplift and time-dependent seismic hazard due to fluid-injection in eastern Texas
Tuesday, 15 December 2015: 09:00
305 (Moscone South)
Manoochehr Shirzaei, Arizona State University, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Tempe, AZ, United States, William L Ellsworth, USGS Western Regional Offices Menlo Park, Menlo Park, CA, United States, Kristy French Tiampo, University of Western Ontario, Department of Earth Sciences, London, ON, Canada, Pablo J González, University of Leeds, COMET, School of Earth and Environment, Leeds, United Kingdom and Michael Manga, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States
Abstract:
US states such as Texas and Oklahoma that produce high-volumes of unconventional oil and gas, are facing a sharp increase in seismicity. Observations of the associated surface deformation and accompanying physical models that unequivocally link the seismicity and waste water injection are scarce. Here, we find that the waste water injection in eastern Texas causes uplift, detectable using radar interferometric data. Combining the uplift and injection data through a poroelastic model allows for the resolution of a complex crustal distribution of hydraulic conductivity and pore pressure. We find that the ~5 years pore pressure increase is capable of triggering the 17 May 2012, Mw 4.8 earthquake, the largest event recorded in east Texas. This study shows that surface deformation data are vital in order to constrain the spatiotemporal variations of the stress field in the vicinity of injection sites.
