Publication Date:
2016-09-28
Description:
The Mw 5.1 Fairview, Oklahoma, earthquake on February 13, 2016, and its associated seismicity produced the largest moment release in the central and eastern U.S. since the 2011 Mw 5.6 Prague, Oklahoma, earthquake sequence and is one of the largest earthquakes potentially linked to wastewater injection. This energetic sequence has produced five earthquakes with Mw 4.4 or larger. Almost all of these earthquakes occur in Precambrian basement on a partially unmapped 14-km-long fault. Regional injection into the Arbuckle formation increased approximately 7-fold in the 36 months prior to the start of the sequence (January, 2015). We suggest far-field pressurization from clustered, high-rate wells greater than 12 km from this sequence induced these earthquakes. As compared to the Fairview sequence, seismicity is diffuse near high-rate wells, where pressure changes are expected to be largest. This points to the critical role that pre-existing faults play in the occurrence of large induced earthquakes.
Print ISSN:
0094-8276
Electronic ISSN:
1944-8007
Topics:
Geosciences
,
Physics
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