What caused the induced seismicity at Castor?
The induced seismicity at the Castor Underground Gas Storage (UGS) project presents features that challenge the identification of the triggering mechanisms: (1) it includes the three largest earthquakes (two exceeding magnitude 4) ever induced in an UGS project, (2) the largest earthquakes occurred 20 days after the stop of gas injection, and (3) the earthquakes were induced in a critically stressed fault placed much deeper than the storage formation, away from the pore pressure perturbation region. It is evident that the typically assumed triggering mechanism of pore pressure buildup played a minor, or indirect, role in inducing the largest earthquakes. We have recently proposed a combination of triggering mechanisms that explain the observed induced seismicity at Castor (Vilarrasa et al., 2021). During cushion gas injection, both pore pressure buildup and buoyancy of the injected gas aseismically reactivated the critically stressed Amposta fault, which bounds the storage formation. After the stop of injection, buoyancy continued destabilizing the Amposta fault, accumulating aseismic slip due to creep. The slip of the Amposta fault caused stress redistribution that brought to failure conditions a critically stressed fault in the brittle crystalline basement. This deep fault induced the large earthquakes, with transient deformation-induced pore pressure changes controlling the delay between earthquakes. A thorough site characterization and monitoring could have anticipated the high risk of inducing seismicity at Castor.
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Format: | comunicación de congreso biblioteca |
Language: | English |
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2021
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Subjects: | Induced Seismicity, Castor, |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/261490 |
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dig-idaea-es-10261-2614902022-02-23T07:04:15Z What caused the induced seismicity at Castor? Vilarrasa, Víctor De Simone, Silvia Carrera, Jesús Villaseñor, Antonio Induced Seismicity Castor The induced seismicity at the Castor Underground Gas Storage (UGS) project presents features that challenge the identification of the triggering mechanisms: (1) it includes the three largest earthquakes (two exceeding magnitude 4) ever induced in an UGS project, (2) the largest earthquakes occurred 20 days after the stop of gas injection, and (3) the earthquakes were induced in a critically stressed fault placed much deeper than the storage formation, away from the pore pressure perturbation region. It is evident that the typically assumed triggering mechanism of pore pressure buildup played a minor, or indirect, role in inducing the largest earthquakes. We have recently proposed a combination of triggering mechanisms that explain the observed induced seismicity at Castor (Vilarrasa et al., 2021). During cushion gas injection, both pore pressure buildup and buoyancy of the injected gas aseismically reactivated the critically stressed Amposta fault, which bounds the storage formation. After the stop of injection, buoyancy continued destabilizing the Amposta fault, accumulating aseismic slip due to creep. The slip of the Amposta fault caused stress redistribution that brought to failure conditions a critically stressed fault in the brittle crystalline basement. This deep fault induced the large earthquakes, with transient deformation-induced pore pressure changes controlling the delay between earthquakes. A thorough site characterization and monitoring could have anticipated the high risk of inducing seismicity at Castor. Peer reviewed 2022-02-22T10:02:45Z 2022-02-22T10:02:45Z 2021 comunicación de congreso http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_5794 InterPore Spanish Chapter – 2021 meeting http://hdl.handle.net/10261/261490 en Sí open |
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Induced Seismicity Castor Induced Seismicity Castor |
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Induced Seismicity Castor Induced Seismicity Castor Vilarrasa, Víctor De Simone, Silvia Carrera, Jesús Villaseñor, Antonio What caused the induced seismicity at Castor? |
description |
The induced seismicity at the Castor Underground Gas Storage (UGS) project presents
features that challenge the identification of the triggering mechanisms: (1) it includes the
three largest earthquakes (two exceeding magnitude 4) ever induced in an UGS project,
(2) the largest earthquakes occurred 20 days after the stop of gas injection, and (3) the
earthquakes were induced in a critically stressed fault placed much deeper than the storage
formation, away from the pore pressure perturbation region. It is evident that the typically
assumed triggering mechanism of pore pressure buildup played a minor, or indirect, role
in inducing the largest earthquakes. We have recently proposed a combination of
triggering mechanisms that explain the observed induced seismicity at Castor (Vilarrasa
et al., 2021). During cushion gas injection, both pore pressure buildup and buoyancy of
the injected gas aseismically reactivated the critically stressed Amposta fault, which
bounds the storage formation. After the stop of injection, buoyancy continued
destabilizing the Amposta fault, accumulating aseismic slip due to creep. The slip of the
Amposta fault caused stress redistribution that brought to failure conditions a critically
stressed fault in the brittle crystalline basement. This deep fault induced the large
earthquakes, with transient deformation-induced pore pressure changes controlling the
delay between earthquakes. A thorough site characterization and monitoring could have
anticipated the high risk of inducing seismicity at Castor. |
format |
comunicación de congreso |
topic_facet |
Induced Seismicity Castor |
author |
Vilarrasa, Víctor De Simone, Silvia Carrera, Jesús Villaseñor, Antonio |
author_facet |
Vilarrasa, Víctor De Simone, Silvia Carrera, Jesús Villaseñor, Antonio |
author_sort |
Vilarrasa, Víctor |
title |
What caused the induced seismicity at Castor? |
title_short |
What caused the induced seismicity at Castor? |
title_full |
What caused the induced seismicity at Castor? |
title_fullStr |
What caused the induced seismicity at Castor? |
title_full_unstemmed |
What caused the induced seismicity at Castor? |
title_sort |
what caused the induced seismicity at castor? |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/261490 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT vilarrasavictor whatcausedtheinducedseismicityatcastor AT desimonesilvia whatcausedtheinducedseismicityatcastor AT carrerajesus whatcausedtheinducedseismicityatcastor AT villasenorantonio whatcausedtheinducedseismicityatcastor |
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