Is the local seismicity along the North Shroe of Lake Erie (Southwestern Ontario) related to the oil/gas production and water injection
2009 (engelsk)Inngår i: EOS: Transactions, ISSN 0096-3941, E-ISSN 2324-9250, Vol. 90, nr 52 Suppl.Artikkel i tidsskrift, Meeting abstract (Fagfellevurdert) Published
Abstract [en]
Over the past decades a number of small earthquakes have been recorded in Leamington - Ridgetown area along the north shore of Lake Erie (southwestern Ontario). A new seismic cluster is forming in this area, away from the already known clusters in Ontario. The new seismic area lays across the seismic area south of Lake Erie (along the Pennsylvania- Ohio border), known for some moderate induced events related to the oil production there. Another cluster related to the oil/gas production- in the region of Gobles, north of Lake Erie-has been documented and studied by Mereu et al. (1986). The induced seismicity is usually related not to the oil/gas production itself but to the water injection accompanying this production. The water injection is used in southern Ontario in Leamington - Ridgetown area to increase the oil/gas recovery from the existing reservoirs. The relationship between the new forming cluster and the ongoing oil/gas production north of Lake Erie is studied here. The parameters of the earthquakes in the area (hypocenter location, magnitudes, seismic moment, stress drop, and focal mechanism and/or seismic moment tensors for some events) are calculated using the POLARIS and Canadian National Seismic Network (CNSN) data. A temporary seismic network, consisting of four high-frequency three-component stations, has been installed in the fall of 2008 to record data from possible smaller events, not recorded by the permanent stations. The lithology, structural geology, and hydrology of the site are critical for determining if the water injection can induce seismic events. This type of data as well as data about the local tectonics (the existing faults) have been collected and analyzed. The main goal of this work was to find if any spatial or temporal correlations between the seismicity pattern and oil production/water injection exist. The preliminary results of the study suggest a correlation between the seismic activity and the oil/gas production. The study provides also additional information about the tectonic regime in southern Ontario and on throws some light on the hypothesis for induced seismicity due to the oil/gas production north of Lake Erie.
sted, utgiver, år, opplag, sider
2009. Vol. 90, nr 52 Suppl.
Identifikatorer
URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-31304Lokal ID: 57344216-e32e-4973-a0b2-33e49a8c97fbOAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-31304DiVA, id: diva2:1004537
Konferanse
American Geophysical Union. Spring meeting 2009 : 24/05/2009 - 27/05/2009
Merknad
Upprättat; 2012; 20121017 (andbra)
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