High-rateinjection is associated with the increase in U.S. mid-continent seismicity

Weingarten, M. and Ge, Shemin and Godt, Jonathan W. and Bekins, B. A. and Rubinstein, Justin L. (2015) High-rateinjection is associated with the increase in U.S. mid-continent seismicity. Science, 348. pp. 1336-1340. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aab1345

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Abstract

An unprecedented increase in earthquakes in the U.S. mid-continent began in 2009. Many of these earthquakes have been documented as induced by wastewater injection. We examine the relationship between wastewater injection and U.S. mid-continent seismicity using a newly assembled injection well database for the central and eastern United States. We find that the entire increase in earthquake rate is associated with fluid injection wells. High-rate injection wells (>300,000 barrels per month) are much more likely to be associated with earthquakes than lower-rate wells. At the scale of our study, a well’s cumulative injected volume, monthly wellhead pressure, depth, and proximity to crystalline basement do not strongly correlate with earthquake association. Managing injection rates may be a useful tool to minimize the likelihood of induced earthquakes.

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Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	Methodology > Method and procesing > Collective properties of seismicity Region > USA Inducing technology > Unconventional hydrocarbon extraction
Project:	SHEER project