Using ground motion prediction equations to monitor variations in quality factor due to induced seismicity: a feasibility study

Sub-surface operations for energy production such as gas storage, fuid reinjection or hydraulic fracking may modify the physical properties of the rocks, in particular the seismic velocity and the anelastic attenuation. The aim of the present study is to investigate, through a synthetic test, the possibility of using empirical ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs) to observe the variations in the reservoir. In the synthetic test, we reproduce the expected seismic activity (in terms of rate, focal mechanisms, stress drop and the b value of the Gutenberg-Richter) and the variation of medium properties in terms of the quality factor Q induced by a fuid injection experiment. In practice, peak-ground velocity data of the simulated earthquakes during the feld operations are used to update the coefcients of a reference GMPE in order to test whether the coefcients are able to capture the medium properties variation. The results of the test show that the coefcients of the GMPE vary during the simulated feld operations revealing their sensitivity to the variation of the anelastic attenuation. The proposed approach is suggested as a promising tool that, if confrmed by real data analysis, could be used for monitoring and interpreting induced seismicity in addition to more conventional techniques.

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Opracowanie rekordu ze środków MNiSW, umowa Nr 461252 w ramach programu "Społeczna odpowiedzialność nauki" - moduł: Popularyzacja nauki i promocja sportu (2021)