21 Injection-Induced Seismicity in the U.S. Midcontinent: Where Are We after a Decade? (Posters)

Tuesday, 26 March 2019
8:30 AM - 5:45 PM
Big Basin/Kaw Nation Rooms

FAULT DETECTION IN SOUTH-CENTRAL KANSAS USING CLUSTER ANALYSIS OF INDUCED EARTHQUAKES

Paper number: 21-4
Program: Theme Sessions
Time: 8:30 AM – 5:45 PM

Authors

Abstract

Seismicity in the United States midcontinent has increased more than tenfold over the past decade. This massive increase has led to the installation of seismic monitoring networks throughout Oklahoma and Kansas. The Kansas Geological Survey installed a seismic monitoring network in Sumner County, KS, to monitor a CO2 injection site. The seismometer array was installed at the beginning of 2015. During a three year period the array identified 2,849 local earthquakes in Sumner County, south-central Kansas, ranging in magnitude from 0.4 to 3.9, and the majority of depths ranging from 2 to 8 km. Cluster analysis identified earthquakes in 30 distinct groups that are delineating previously unknown faults. This analysis of earthquakes is the first information on faults in the shallow basement in Sumner County. The trend of earthquakes is also evolving, as seismicity is moving further north, presumably driven by the advance of a regional pore pressure field. Here, the earthquakes are used to estimate the orientation of these shallow basement faults, as well as observe the evolving trend of seismicity in southern Kansas.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 51, No. 2

doi: 10.1130/abs/2019SC-327440

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