Stress tensor changes related to fluid injection at The Geysers geothermal field, California

Martinez-Garzon, Patricia and Bohnhoff, Marco and Kwiatek, Grzegorz and Dresen, Georg (2013) Stress tensor changes related to fluid injection at The Geysers geothermal field, California. Geophysical Research Letters, 40 (11). pp. 2596-2601. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50438

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Official URL: http://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50438

Abstract

Studyingvariationsofthestressfieldinreservoirscaused by massive fluid injection is important toward an improved understanding of geomechanical processes involved. We report on spatio-temporal variations of the local stress tensor orientation at The Geysers geothermal field, California. We apply two stress inversion methods with detailed uncertainty assessments using a selection of events recorded between 2007 and 2012. Our results clearly indicate variations in the orientation of the principal stress axes for the reservoir as a whole showing a normal faulting regime at the reservoir depth between 2 and 3.7km bounded by a strike-slip regime above and below. Analyzing the temporal evolution of the stress tensor orientation for a prominent seismicity cluster we observe a clear correlation of changes in orientation for s1–3 with the highest injection rates. These results suggest that temporal changes in the stress tensor orientation could contribute to characterize reservoirs during stimulation

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Item Type: Article
Subjects: Methodology > Method and procesing > Stress field modeling > Technology induced stress field redistribution
Methodology > Method and procesing > Stress field modeling > Evolution of stress field changes
Region > USA > California > Geysers
Inducing technology > Geothermal energy production
Project: EPOS-IP > THE GEYSERS Prati 9 and Prati 29 cluster: Treated wastewater injection for geothermal power production