A Small CO2 Leakage May Induce Seismicity on a Sub‐Seismic Fault in a Good‐Porosity Clastic Saline Aquifer
Abstract Despite public concerns, only a few CO2 injections into saline aquifers have reported microseismicity. We analyze passive seismic monitoring of a small (15,000 tonnes and 0.15 MPa pressure) injection of supercritical CO2‐rich mixture for Stage 2C of the CO2CRC Otway Project (Victoria, Austr...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2022-06-01
|
| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098062 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832591235560243200 |
|---|---|
| author | Stanislav Glubokovskikh Erdinc Saygin Serge Shapiro Boris Gurevich Roman Isaenkov David Lumley Rie Nakata Julian Drew Roman Pevzner |
| author_facet | Stanislav Glubokovskikh Erdinc Saygin Serge Shapiro Boris Gurevich Roman Isaenkov David Lumley Rie Nakata Julian Drew Roman Pevzner |
| author_sort | Stanislav Glubokovskikh |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Despite public concerns, only a few CO2 injections into saline aquifers have reported microseismicity. We analyze passive seismic monitoring of a small (15,000 tonnes and 0.15 MPa pressure) injection of supercritical CO2‐rich mixture for Stage 2C of the CO2CRC Otway Project (Victoria, Australia), which induced 19 detectable events with maximum moment magnitude MW‐0.5. The locations and dynamic parameters of the triggered events indicate a reactivation of a small fault patch where CO2 flowed through the fault. Time‐lapse seismic images of the plume and reservoir simulations show that the reactivation occurred when the CO2 plume reached this fault. This might be indicative of a fault weakening by the plume that enabled subsequent reactivation by pressure variations. Our observations suggest that a leakage from a commercial‐scale storage may trigger felt seismicity in the overburden without strong overpressure, thus, the de‐risking workflows should involve a detailed study of small faults. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6346141c0c90444e9f69a4a248f29f33 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-6346141c0c90444e9f69a4a248f29f332025-01-22T14:38:16ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072022-06-014912n/an/a10.1029/2022GL098062A Small CO2 Leakage May Induce Seismicity on a Sub‐Seismic Fault in a Good‐Porosity Clastic Saline AquiferStanislav Glubokovskikh0Erdinc Saygin1Serge Shapiro2Boris Gurevich3Roman Isaenkov4David Lumley5Rie Nakata6Julian Drew7Roman Pevzner8Curtin University Perth WA AustraliaUniversity of Western Australia Perth WA AustraliaFreie Universität Berlin Berlin GermanyCurtin University Perth WA AustraliaCurtin University Perth WA AustraliaUniversity of Western Australia Perth WA AustraliaLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley CA USANanoSeis Centennial CO USACurtin University Perth WA AustraliaAbstract Despite public concerns, only a few CO2 injections into saline aquifers have reported microseismicity. We analyze passive seismic monitoring of a small (15,000 tonnes and 0.15 MPa pressure) injection of supercritical CO2‐rich mixture for Stage 2C of the CO2CRC Otway Project (Victoria, Australia), which induced 19 detectable events with maximum moment magnitude MW‐0.5. The locations and dynamic parameters of the triggered events indicate a reactivation of a small fault patch where CO2 flowed through the fault. Time‐lapse seismic images of the plume and reservoir simulations show that the reactivation occurred when the CO2 plume reached this fault. This might be indicative of a fault weakening by the plume that enabled subsequent reactivation by pressure variations. Our observations suggest that a leakage from a commercial‐scale storage may trigger felt seismicity in the overburden without strong overpressure, thus, the de‐risking workflows should involve a detailed study of small faults.https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098062 |
| spellingShingle | Stanislav Glubokovskikh Erdinc Saygin Serge Shapiro Boris Gurevich Roman Isaenkov David Lumley Rie Nakata Julian Drew Roman Pevzner A Small CO2 Leakage May Induce Seismicity on a Sub‐Seismic Fault in a Good‐Porosity Clastic Saline Aquifer Geophysical Research Letters |
| title | A Small CO2 Leakage May Induce Seismicity on a Sub‐Seismic Fault in a Good‐Porosity Clastic Saline Aquifer |
| title_full | A Small CO2 Leakage May Induce Seismicity on a Sub‐Seismic Fault in a Good‐Porosity Clastic Saline Aquifer |
| title_fullStr | A Small CO2 Leakage May Induce Seismicity on a Sub‐Seismic Fault in a Good‐Porosity Clastic Saline Aquifer |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Small CO2 Leakage May Induce Seismicity on a Sub‐Seismic Fault in a Good‐Porosity Clastic Saline Aquifer |
| title_short | A Small CO2 Leakage May Induce Seismicity on a Sub‐Seismic Fault in a Good‐Porosity Clastic Saline Aquifer |
| title_sort | small co2 leakage may induce seismicity on a sub seismic fault in a good porosity clastic saline aquifer |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098062 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT stanislavglubokovskikh asmallco2leakagemayinduceseismicityonasubseismicfaultinagoodporosityclasticsalineaquifer AT erdincsaygin asmallco2leakagemayinduceseismicityonasubseismicfaultinagoodporosityclasticsalineaquifer AT sergeshapiro asmallco2leakagemayinduceseismicityonasubseismicfaultinagoodporosityclasticsalineaquifer AT borisgurevich asmallco2leakagemayinduceseismicityonasubseismicfaultinagoodporosityclasticsalineaquifer AT romanisaenkov asmallco2leakagemayinduceseismicityonasubseismicfaultinagoodporosityclasticsalineaquifer AT davidlumley asmallco2leakagemayinduceseismicityonasubseismicfaultinagoodporosityclasticsalineaquifer AT rienakata asmallco2leakagemayinduceseismicityonasubseismicfaultinagoodporosityclasticsalineaquifer AT juliandrew asmallco2leakagemayinduceseismicityonasubseismicfaultinagoodporosityclasticsalineaquifer AT romanpevzner asmallco2leakagemayinduceseismicityonasubseismicfaultinagoodporosityclasticsalineaquifer AT stanislavglubokovskikh smallco2leakagemayinduceseismicityonasubseismicfaultinagoodporosityclasticsalineaquifer AT erdincsaygin smallco2leakagemayinduceseismicityonasubseismicfaultinagoodporosityclasticsalineaquifer AT sergeshapiro smallco2leakagemayinduceseismicityonasubseismicfaultinagoodporosityclasticsalineaquifer AT borisgurevich smallco2leakagemayinduceseismicityonasubseismicfaultinagoodporosityclasticsalineaquifer AT romanisaenkov smallco2leakagemayinduceseismicityonasubseismicfaultinagoodporosityclasticsalineaquifer AT davidlumley smallco2leakagemayinduceseismicityonasubseismicfaultinagoodporosityclasticsalineaquifer AT rienakata smallco2leakagemayinduceseismicityonasubseismicfaultinagoodporosityclasticsalineaquifer AT juliandrew smallco2leakagemayinduceseismicityonasubseismicfaultinagoodporosityclasticsalineaquifer AT romanpevzner smallco2leakagemayinduceseismicityonasubseismicfaultinagoodporosityclasticsalineaquifer |