ALBERT

Description: We investigate the source characteristics of picoseismicity (Mw 〈 −2) recorded during a hydraulic fracturing in situ experiment performed in the underground Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory, Sweden. The experiment consisted of six stimulations driven by three different water injection schemes and was performed inside a 28-m-long, horizontal borehole located at 410-m depth. The fracturing processes were monitored with a variety of seismic networks including broadband seismometers, geophones, high-frequency accelerometers, and acoustic emission sensors thereby covering a wide frequency band between 0.01 and 100,000 Hz. Here we study the high-frequency signals with dominant frequencies exceeding 1000 Hz. The combined seismic network allowed for detection and detailed analysis of 196 small-scale seismic events with moment magnitudes MW 〈 −3.5 (source sizes of decimeter scale) that occurred solely during the stimulations and shortly after. The double-difference relocated hypocenter catalog as well as source parameters were used to study the physical characteristics of the induced seismicity and then compared to the stimulation parameters. We observe a spatiotemporal migration of the picoseismic events away and toward the injection intervals in direct correlation with changes in the hydraulic energy (product of fluid injection pressure and injection rate). We find that the total radiated seismic energy is extremely low with respect to the product of injected fluid volume and pressure (hydraulic energy). The radiated seismic energy correlates well with the hydraulic energy rate. The obtained fault plane solutions for particularly well-characterized events signify the reactivation of preexisting rock defects under influence of increased pore fluid pressure on fault plane orientations in good correspondence with the local stress field orientation. ©2018. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

Description: This dataset contains processed (downsampled, rotated to local Äspö96 coordinate system, cut) broadband seismograms from two seismometers (Trillium Compact 120s), showing long-period transients on the horizontal components recorded during multiple hydraulic fracturing experiments in the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory (HRL). Furthermore, the dataset contains extracted tilt time series and the injection parameters of the experiment to allow reproducing the results of Niemz et al. (2021). The seismic waveforms were recorded during meter-scale hydraulic fracturing experiments in the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory (HRL) in Sweden (Zang et al., 2017). This dataset only contains a subset of the data recorded during the experiments, monitored by a complementary monitoring system. The two seismometers contained in this dataset (A89 and A8B) were located in galleries adjacent/close to the injection borehole (see Fig. 2 in Niemz et al., 2021). The experiments were conducted at the 410m-depth level of the Äspö HRL. Each of the six experiments (HF1 to HF6) consisted of multiple stages with an initial fracturing and three to five refracturing stages (see injection parameters contained in this dataset). The six injection intervals were located along a 28m-long injection borehole. The borehole was drilled sub-parallel to the minimum horizontal compressive stress direction. The distance of the two seismometers to the injection intervals in the injection borehole is between 17 m and 29 m for sensor A89 and 52 m to 72 m for sensor A8B. A89 and A8B correspond to BB1 and BB2 in Niemz et al., 2021. For more details regarding the experimental setup, see Zang et al., 2017; Niemz et al., 2020; and Niemz et al., 2021. The records of the two seismometers show long-period transients that correlate with the injection parameters. These transients are the response of the seismometers to a tilting of the gallery floor. The extracted tilt time series provide independent insight into the fracturing process during the hydraulic stimulations (Niemz et al., 2021).

Description: This data set contains measurements of an underground hydraulic fracture experiment at Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory in May and June 2015. The experiment tested various injection schemes for rock fracture stimulation and monitored the resulting seismicity. The primary purpose of the experiment is to identify injection schemes that provide rock fracturing while reducing seismicity or at least mitigate larger seismic events. In total, six tests with three different injection schemes were performed in various igneous rock types. Both the injection process and the accompanied seismicity were monitored. For injection monitoring, the water flow and pressure are provided and additional tests for rock permeability. The seismicity was monitored in both triggered and continuous mode during the tests by high-resolution acoustic emission sensors, accelerometers and broadband seismometers. Both waveform data and seismicity catalogs are provided.