Acoustic Emissions as a Tool for Hydraulic Fracture Location: Experience at the Fenton Hill Hot Dry Rock Site

Abstract Microearthquakes with magnitudes between −6 and −2 have been observed in three successive massive injections of water at the hot dry rock geothermal energy development project's demonstration site at Fenton Hill, NM. The injections were part of a program to increase the heat transfer area of hydraulic fractures and to decrease the flow-through impedance between wells in the energy extraction system under construction. The microearthquakes were used in mapping the location of the extended hydraulic fractures. The large shear- to compressional-wave-amplitude ratio observed in the signals suggests that the microearthquakes result from shear failure, probably on preexisting planes of weakness that intersect or make up the main hydraulic system. Failure resulting from increased pore pressure is a likely cause for the microearthquakes. Knowledge of the failure criterion for the reservoir rocks permits calculation of the pore pressure increases necessary for failure. At Fenton Hill, it appears that pressures 2 Pa (0.00029 psi) above hydrostatic are necessary. For this hypothesis of microearthquake occurrence to hold, the effective reservoir permeability must be four orders of magnitude above that for the bulk rock, as would be the case if there were permeable joints or fractures in the reservoir before hydraulic stimulation.