A Historical Review of Induced Earthquakes in Texas

Research Article| May 18, 2016 A Historical Review of Induced Earthquakes in Texas Cliff Frohlich; Cliff Frohlich aInstitute for Geophysics, University of Texas at Austin, 10100 Burnet Road (R2200), Austin, Texas 78758 U.S.A.cliff@ig.utexas.edu Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Heather DeShon; Heather DeShon bHuffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75205 U.S.A. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Brian Stump; Brian Stump bHuffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75205 U.S.A. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Chris Hayward; Chris Hayward bHuffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75205 U.S.A. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Matt Hornbach; Matt Hornbach bHuffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75205 U.S.A. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Jacob I. Walter Jacob I. Walter aInstitute for Geophysics, University of Texas at Austin, 10100 Burnet Road (R2200), Austin, Texas 78758 U.S.A.cliff@ig.utexas.edu Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Cliff Frohlich aInstitute for Geophysics, University of Texas at Austin, 10100 Burnet Road (R2200), Austin, Texas 78758 U.S.A.cliff@ig.utexas.edu Heather DeShon bHuffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75205 U.S.A. Brian Stump bHuffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75205 U.S.A. Chris Hayward bHuffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75205 U.S.A. Matt Hornbach bHuffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75205 U.S.A. Jacob I. Walter aInstitute for Geophysics, University of Texas at Austin, 10100 Burnet Road (R2200), Austin, Texas 78758 U.S.A.cliff@ig.utexas.edu Publisher: Seismological Society of America First Online: 14 Jul 2017 Online Issn: 1938-2057 Print Issn: 0895-0695 © 2016 by the Seismological Society of America Seismological Research Letters (2016) 87 (4): 1022–1038. https://doi.org/10.1785/0220160016 Article history First Online: 14 Jul 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Cliff Frohlich, Heather DeShon, Brian Stump, Chris Hayward, Matt Hornbach, Jacob I. Walter; A Historical Review of Induced Earthquakes in Texas. Seismological Research Letters 2016;; 87 (4): 1022–1038. doi: https://doi.org/10.1785/0220160016 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietySeismological Research Letters Search Advanced Search ABSTRACT In Texas, earthquakes have occurred in close association with activities accompanying petroleum production since 1925. Here we develop a five‐question test to categorize individual events as "tectonic," "possibly induced," "probably induced," or "almost certainly induced." In Texas, the probably induced and almost certainly induced earthquakes are broadly distributed geographically—in the Fort Worth basin of north Texas, the Haynesville Shale play area of east Texas, along the Gulf Coast in south Texas, and the Permian basin of west Texas. As the technologies applied to manage petroleum fields have evolved, induced earthquakes have been associated with different practices. In fields being driven by primary recovery prior to 1940, earthquakes occurred in fields extracting high volumes of petroleum from shallow strata. Subsequently, as field pressures decreased and secondary recovery technologies became common, earthquakes also occurred in association with waterflooding operations. Since 2008, the rate of earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 3 has increased from about 2 events/yr to 12 events/yr; much of this change is attributable to earthquakes occurring within a few kilometers of wastewater disposal wells injecting at high monthly rates. For three sequences monitored by temporary local seismograph networks, most hypocenters had focal depths at and deeper than the depth of injection and occurred along mapped faults situated within 2 km of injection sites. The record clearly demonstrates that induced earthquakes have been broadly distributed in several different geographic parts of Texas over the last 90 years. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.