Expert Articles: Induced Seismicity
The SHIP collection of expert articles is continuously developed and updated.
Induced seismicity once again primarily focused on disposal wells
Author: Horst Rüter
Published: October 13, 2014
The article "The 2001–Present Induced Earthquake Sequence in the Raton Basin of Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado" (Weblink) published in October 2014 is not directly related to shale gas production but, instead, deals with seismicity created in connection with the disposal of reservoir water co-produced during coalbed methane production. However, it is of some interest here, because the origin of the disposed water... [read more]
Induced seismicity linked to wastewater injection is said to make up around 20% of total seismicity within the USA.
Author: Horst Rüter
Published: August 1, 2014
In an article that attracted a lot of press attention Keranen et al.(2014) take a closer look at the strong increase in seismicity in Oklahoma and therefore also in the central and eastern USA, something that has been talked about in publications for some time. The title alone [Sharp increase in central Oklahoma seismicity since 2008 induced by massive wastewater injection] draws a connection between this increase with wastewater injection. The article describes... [read more]
Can larger earthquakes be related to disposal wells?
Author: Horst Rüter
Published: June 19, 2014
This article by Sumy et al (2014) is particularly notable because it reports on the largest event to date related to gas extracted from the bedrock with a magnitude of M5.7. The team of authors looks at the M5.7 event in the context of a thousand other events registered during the injection phase (1993 - 2011). Of these, 110 were large enough to be evaluated in terms... [read more]
Do induced earthquakes occur during hydraulic fracturing after all?
Author: Horst Rüter
Published: June 19, 2014
This article by Austin A. Holland (2013) is noteworthy for several reasons. It is also important for the discussion on induced seismicity in the context of the production of gas from shale gas reservoirs using... [read more]
