Geoscientists have discovered that injecting shallow wastewater into oil and gas production fields triggers deep earthquakes in Texas

In recently published research, geologists at Virginia Tech have found that shallow wastewater injection – not deep wastewater injection – can trigger large-scale deep earthquake activity in unconventional oil and gas production fields.

Brine is a by-product of toxic wastewater for oil and gas production. Well diggers dispose of the brine in large quantities by injecting it into subterranean formations, where injecting it can cause earthquakes, according to Guang Chai, a postdoctoral research scientist in the Department of Geosciences, part of Virginia Tech College of Science, and a visiting assistant. . Researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.

The results appeared in the May 10, 2021 edition of the Journal of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Joining Zhai in the paper, Manoochehr Shirzaei, Associate Professor of Earth Sciences at Virginia Tech, and Michael Manga, Professor and Chair of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Berkeley. In the US Department of Energy-funded study, the team focused on the Delaware Basin in West Texas, one of the most productive and unconventional hydrocarbon fields in the United States.

Since 2010, the basin has seen a significant increase in shallow wastewater injection and deep earthquakes spread widely, including the recent magnitude 5.0 event near Menton, Texas. Most of the earthquakes were relatively small, but some were large and widely felt.

Manoochehr Shirzaei, Associate Professor of Earth Sciences at Virginia Tech. Image Source: Photo by Stephen Mackay / Virginia Tech

“It is really interesting that injection over the thicker rock tank with generally low permeability can cause an earthquake inside the deep basement, despite the minimal hydraulic conductivity,” said Chai. “What we found is that so-called rubber stresses can activate faults in the basement, which arise from the injection of fluid causing the rocks to deform.”

Porous elasticity is the resulting interaction between fluid flow and solid deformations within a porous formation, here sandstone. “This finding is significant because it puts elastic stressors in the spotlight as the primary driver of earthquakes involving the basin in the basin,” said Sherzai, who is also an associate faculty member at the Virginia Tech Global Change Center.

However, forecasting the magnitude of seismic activity from wastewater injection is problematic because it includes many variables, one of which is the injection depth, Chai said. Although it is well known that increased fluid pressure due to deep injection is the primary cause of the recent seismic increase in the central and eastern United States, it remains doubtful exactly how shallow injections cause earthquakes.

During the study, the team looked at how varying amounts of injected brine affected crust pressures deep in the Delaware Basin and how these disturbances trigger earthquakes on a particular fault. “Liquids such as salt water and natural groundwater can be stored and transported through porous rocks,” Chai added.

The trio used data analyzes and computer modeling to mimic the large volume of fluid extraction from shale reservoirs from more than 1,500 oil shale production wells over the period from 1993 to 2020, with 400 wells injected with brine into sandstone formations from 2010 to 2020. To make the scenario realistic, Sherzai said the model incorporates the mechanical properties of rocks in the Delaware Basin.

The team found that earthquakes at the level of the basin mainly occur where deep pressure builds up due to surface injection. This implies that there is a causal relationship between deep earthquakes and shallow fluid injection via elastic stress transfer.

“The profound change in pressure is sensitive to the properties of a shallow aquifer, particularly hydraulic diffusion, which describes the ease with which fluids flow in a porous medium,” Manga said. “One question that should be asked is why some areas with a lot of shallow injection lack earthquakes. Our approach provides a way to investigate other important factors that control induced earthquakes.”

In addition to human interventions, the same tectonic settings also help pre-determine the size and likelihood of an earthquake, Shirzai said. This study and future work will provide a viable method for assessing induced seismic hazards, combining natural and anthropogenic factors. Ultimate goal: to reduce the risks arising from wastewater disposal during natural gas production so that long-term renewable energy technologies are available to all.

“With future energy demand increasing globally, dealing with the vast amount of wastewater produced jointly remains a challenge, and shallow, safe injection for disposal is more cost-effective than deep injection or treatment,” said Chai. Water. ” “We hope that the mechanism that we found in this study will help people rethink what causes earthquakes, ultimately helping to better understand them and mitigate their risks.”

Reference: “Large-scale Deep Earthquakes in the Delaware Basin, Texas, Driven Primarily by Shallow Wastewater Injection” Posted by Guangzai, Manouchehr Shirzai and Michael Manga, May 10, 2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073 / pnas.2102338118

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