@article{ZieglerHeidbachZangetal.2017, author = {Ziegler, Moritz O. and Heidbach, Oliver and Zang, Arno and Martinez-Garzon, Patricia and Bohnhoff, Marco}, title = {Estimation of the differential stress from the stress rotation angle in low permeable rock}, series = {Geophysical research letters}, volume = {44}, journal = {Geophysical research letters}, publisher = {American Geophysical Union}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0094-8276}, doi = {10.1002/2017GL073598}, pages = {6761 -- 6770}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Rotations of the principal stress axes are observed as a result of fluid injection into reservoirs. We use a generic, fully coupled 3-D thermo-hydro-mechanical model to investigate systematically the dependence of this stress rotation on different reservoir properties and injection scenarios. We find that permeability, injection rate, and initial differential stress are the key factors, while other reservoir properties only play a negligible role. In particular, we find that thermal effects do not significantly contribute to stress rotations. For reservoir types with usual differential stress and reservoir treatment the occurrence of significant stress rotations is limited to reservoirs with a permeability of less than approximately 10(-12)m(2). Higher permeability effectively prevents stress rotations to occur. Thus, according to these general findings, the observed principal stress axes rotation can be used as a proxy of the initial differential stress provided that rock permeability and fluid injection rate are known a priori.}, language = {en} } @article{WeberAbuAyyashAbueladasetal.2009, author = {Weber, Michael H. and Abu-Ayyash, Khalil and Abueladas, Abdel-Rahman and Agnon, Amotz and Alasonati-Taš{\´a}rov{\´a}, Zuzana and Al-Zubi, Hashim and Babeyko, Andrey and Bartov, Yuval and Bauer, Klaus and Becken, Michael and Bedrosian, Paul A. and Ben-Avraham, Zvi and Bock, G{\"u}nter and Bohnhoff, Marco and Bribach, Jens and Dulski, Peter and Ebbing, Joerg and El-Kelani, Radwan J. and Foerster, Andrea and F{\"o}rster, Hans-J{\"u}rgen and Frieslander, Uri and Garfunkel, Zvi and G{\"o}tze, Hans-J{\"u}rgen and Haak, Volker and Haberland, Christian and Hassouneh, Mohammed and Helwig, Stefan L. and Hofstetter, Alfons and Hoffmann-Rothe, Arne and Jaeckel, Karl-Heinz and Janssen, Christoph and Jaser, Darweesh and Kesten, Dagmar and Khatib, Mohammed Ghiath and Kind, Rainer and Koch, Olaf and Koulakov, Ivan and Laske, Maria Gabi and Maercklin, Nils}, title = {Anatomy of the Dead Sea transform from lithospheric to microscopic scale}, issn = {8755-1209}, doi = {10.1029/2008rg000264}, year = {2009}, abstract = {Fault zones are the locations where motion of tectonic plates, often associated with earthquakes, is accommodated. Despite a rapid increase in the understanding of faults in the last decades, our knowledge of their geometry, petrophysical properties, and controlling processes remains incomplete. The central questions addressed here in our study of the Dead Sea Transform (DST) in the Middle East are as follows: (1) What are the structure and kinematics of a large fault zone? (2) What controls its structure and kinematics? (3) How does the DST compare to other plate boundary fault zones? The DST has accommodated a total of 105 km of left-lateral transform motion between the African and Arabian plates since early Miocene (similar to 20 Ma). The DST segment between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea, called the Arava/Araba Fault (AF), is studied here using a multidisciplinary and multiscale approach from the mu m to the plate tectonic scale. We observe that under the DST a narrow, subvertical zone cuts through crust and lithosphere. First, from west to east the crustal thickness increases smoothly from 26 to 39 km, and a subhorizontal lower crustal reflector is detected east of the AF. Second, several faults exist in the upper crust in a 40 km wide zone centered on the AF, but none have kilometer-size zones of decreased seismic velocities or zones of high electrical conductivities in the upper crust expected for large damage zones. Third, the AF is the main branch of the DST system, even though it has accommodated only a part (up to 60 km) of the overall 105 km of sinistral plate motion. Fourth, the AF acts as a barrier to fluids to a depth of 4 km, and the lithology changes abruptly across it. Fifth, in the top few hundred meters of the AF a locally transpressional regime is observed in a 100-300 m wide zone of deformed and displaced material, bordered by subparallel faults forming a positive flower structure. Other segments of the AF have a transtensional character with small pull-aparts along them. The damage zones of the individual faults are only 5-20 m wide at this depth range. Sixth, two areas on the AF show mesoscale to microscale faulting and veining in limestone sequences with faulting depths between 2 and 5 km. Seventh, fluids in the AF are carried downward into the fault zone. Only a minor fraction of fluids is derived from ascending hydrothermal fluids. However, we found that on the kilometer scale the AF does not act as an important fluid conduit. Most of these findings are corroborated using thermomechanical modeling where shear deformation in the upper crust is localized in one or two major faults; at larger depth, shear deformation occurs in a 20-40 km wide zone with a mechanically weak decoupling zone extending subvertically through the entire lithosphere.}, language = {en} } @article{WangRybackiBonnelyeetal.2021, author = {Wang, Lei and Rybacki, Erik and Bonnelye, Audrey and Bohnhoff, Marco and Dresen, Georg}, title = {Experimental investigation on static and dynamic bulk moduli of dry and fluid-saturated porous sandstones}, series = {Rock mechanics and rock engineering}, volume = {54}, journal = {Rock mechanics and rock engineering}, number = {1}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Wien}, issn = {0723-2632}, doi = {10.1007/s00603-020-02248-3}, pages = {129 -- 148}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Knowledge of pressure-dependent static and dynamic moduli of porous reservoir rocks is of key importance for evaluating geological setting of a reservoir in geo-energy applications. We examined experimentally the evolution of static and dynamic bulk moduli for porous Bentheim sandstone with increasing confining pressure up to about 190 MPa under dry and water-saturated conditions. The static bulk moduli (K-s) were estimated from stress-volumetric strain curves while dynamic bulk moduli (K-d) were derived from the changes in ultrasonic P- and S- wave velocities (similar to 1 MHz) along different traces, which were monitored simultaneously during the entire deformation. In conjunction with published data of other porous sandstones (Berea, Navajo and Weber sandstones), our results reveal that the ratio between dynamic and static bulk moduli (K-d/K-s) reduces rapidly from about 1.5 - 2.0 at ambient pressure to about 1.1 at high pressure under dry conditions and from about 2.0 - 4.0 to about 1.5 under water-saturated conditions, respectively. We interpret such a pressure-dependent reduction by closure of narrow (compliant) cracks, highlighting thatK(d)/K(s)is positively correlated with the amount of narrow cracks. Above the crack closure pressure, where equant (stiff) pores dominate the void space,K-d/K(s)is almost constant. The enhanced difference between dynamic and static bulk moduli under water saturation compared to dry conditions is possibly caused by high pore pressure that is locally maintained if measured using high-frequency ultrasonic wave velocities. In our experiments, the pressure dependence of dynamic bulk modulus of water-saturated Bentheim sandstone at effective pressures above 5 MPa can be roughly predicted by both the effective medium theory (Mori-Tanaka scheme) and the squirt-flow model. Static bulk moduli are found to be more sensitive to narrow cracks than dynamic bulk moduli for porous sandstones under dry and water-saturated conditions.}, language = {en} } @article{WangKwiatekRybackietal.2020, author = {Wang, Lei and Kwiatek, Grzegorz and Rybacki, Erik and Bonnelye, Audrey and Bohnhoff, Marco and Dresen, Georg}, title = {Laboratory study on fluid-induced fault slip behavior: the role of fluid pressurization rate}, series = {Geophysical research letters : GRL}, volume = {47}, journal = {Geophysical research letters : GRL}, number = {6}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken, NJ}, issn = {0094-8276}, doi = {10.1029/2019GL086627}, pages = {12}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Understanding the physical mechanisms governing fluid-induced fault slip is important for improved mitigation of seismic risks associated with large-scale fluid injection. We conducted fluid-induced fault slip experiments in the laboratory on critically stressed saw-cut sandstone samples with high permeability using different fluid pressurization rates. Our experimental results demonstrate that fault slip behavior is governed by fluid pressurization rate rather than injection pressure. Slow stick-slip episodes (peak slip velocity < 4 mu m/s) are induced by fast fluid injection rate, whereas fault creep with slip velocity < 0.4 mu m/s mainly occurs in response to slow fluid injection rate. Fluid-induced fault slip may remain mechanically stable for loading stiffness larger than fault stiffness. Independent of fault slip mode, we observed dynamic frictional weakening of the artificial fault at elevated pore pressure. Our observations highlight that varying fluid injection rates may assist in reducing potential seismic hazards of field-scale fluid injection projects.
Plain Language Summary Human-induced earthquakes from field-scale fluid injection projects including enhanced geothermal system and deep wastewater injection have been documented worldwide. Although it is clear that fluid pressure plays a crucial role in triggering fault slip, the physical mechanism behind induced seismicity still remains poorly understood. We performed laboratory tests, and here we present two fluid-induced slip experiments conducted on permeable Bentheim sandstone samples crosscut by a fault that is critically stressed. Fault slip is then triggered by pumping the water from the bottom end of the sample at different fluid injection rates. Our results show that fault slip is controlled by fluid pressure increase rate rather than by the absolute magnitude of fluid pressure. In contrast to episodes of relatively rapid but stable sliding events caused by a fast fluid injection rate, fault creep is observed during slow fluid injection. Strong weakening of the dynamic friction coefficient of the experimental fault is observed at elevated pore pressure, independent of fault slip mode. These results may provide a better understanding of the complex behavior of fluid-induced fault slip on the field scale.}, language = {en} } @article{WangKwiatekRybackietal.2020, author = {Wang, Lei and Kwiatek, Grzegorz and Rybacki, Erik and Bohnhoff, Marco and Dresen, Georg}, title = {Injection-induced seismic moment release and laboratory fault slip}, series = {Geophysical research letters}, volume = {47}, journal = {Geophysical research letters}, number = {22}, publisher = {American Geophysical Union}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0094-8276}, doi = {10.1029/2020GL089576}, pages = {11}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Understanding the relation between injection-induced seismic moment release and operational parameters is crucial for early identification of possible seismic hazards associated with fluid-injection projects. We conducted laboratory fluid-injection experiments on permeable sandstone samples containing a critically stressed fault at different fluid pressurization rates. The observed fluid-induced fault deformation is dominantly aseismic. Fluid-induced stick-slip and fault creep reveal that total seismic moment release of acoustic emission (AE) events is related to total injected volume, independent of respective fault slip behavior. Seismic moment release rate of AE scales with measured fault slip velocity. For injection-induced fault slip in a homogeneous pressurized region, released moment shows a linear scaling with injected volume for stable slip (steady slip and fault creep), while we find a cubic relation for dynamic slip. Our results highlight that monitoring evolution of seismic moment release with injected volume in some cases may assist in discriminating between stable slip and unstable runaway ruptures.}, language = {en} } @article{WangDresenRybackietal.2020, author = {Wang, Lei and Dresen, Georg and Rybacki, Erik and Bonnelye, Audrey and Bohnhoff, Marco}, title = {Pressure-dependent bulk compressibility of a porous granular material modeled by improved contact mechanics and micromechanical approaches}, series = {Acta materialia}, volume = {188}, journal = {Acta materialia}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {1359-6454}, doi = {10.1016/j.actamat.2020.01.063}, pages = {259 -- 272}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The change of the mechanical properties of granular materials with pressure is an important topic associated with many industrial applications. In this paper we investigate the influence of hydrostatic pressure (P-e) on the effective bulk compressibility (C-eff) of a granular material by applying two modified theoretical approaches that are based on contact mechanics and micromechanics, respectively. For a granular material composed of rough grains, an extended contact model is developed to elucidate the effect of roughness of grain surfaces on bulk compressibility. At relatively low pressures, the model predicts that the decrease of bulk compressibility with pressure may be described by a power law with an exponent of -1/2 (i.e., C-eff proportional to P-e(1/2) ), but deviates at intermediate pressures. At elevated pressures beyond full contact, bulk compressibility remains almost unchanged, which may be roughly evaluated by continuum contact mechanics. As an alternative explanation of pressure-dependent bulk compressibility, we suggest a micromechanical model that accounts for effects of different types of pore space present in granular materials. Narrow and compliant inter-granular cracks are approximated by three-dimensional oblate spheroidal cracks with rough surfaces, whereas the equant and stiff pores surrounded by three and four neighboring grains are modeled as tubular pores with cross sections of three and four cusp-like corners, respectively. In this model, bulk compressibility is strongly reduced with increasing pressure by progressive closure of rough-walled cracks. At pressures exceeding crack closure pressure, deformation of the remaining equant pores is largely insensitive to pressure, with almost no further change in bulk compressibility. To validate these models, we performed hydrostatic compression tests on Bentheim sandstone (a granular rock consisting of quartz with high porosity) under a wide range of pressure. The relation between observed microstructures and measured pressure-dependent bulk compressibility is well explained by both suggested models.}, language = {en} } @article{MartinezGarzonKwiatekBohnhoffetal.2017, author = {Mart{\´i}nez-Garz{\´o}n, Patricia and Kwiatek, Grzegorz and Bohnhoff, Marco and Dresen, Georg}, title = {Volumetric components in the earthquake source related to fluid injection and stress state}, series = {Geophysical research letters}, volume = {44}, journal = {Geophysical research letters}, number = {2}, publisher = {American Geophysical Union}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0094-8276}, doi = {10.1002/2016GL071963}, pages = {800 -- 809}, year = {2017}, abstract = {We investigate source processes of fluid-induced seismicity from The Geysers geothermal reservoir in California to determine their relation with hydraulic operations and improve the corresponding seismic hazard estimates. Analysis of 869 well-constrained full moment tensors (M-w 0.8-3.5) reveals significant non-double-couple components (>25\%) for about 65\% of the events. Volumetric deformation is governed by cumulative injection rates with larger non-double-couple components observed near the wells and during high injection periods. Source mechanisms are magnitude dependent and vary significantly between faulting regimes. Normal faulting events (M-w<2) reveal substantial volumetric components indicating dilatancy in contrast to strike-slip events that have a dominant double-couple source. Volumetric components indicating closure of cracks in the source region are mostly found for reverse faulting events with M-w>2.5. Our results imply that source processes and magnitudes of fluid-induced seismic events are strongly affected by the hydraulic operations, the reservoir stress state, and the faulting regime.}, language = {en} } @article{MartinezGarzonKwiatekSoneetal.2014, author = {Martinez-Garzon, Patricia and Kwiatek, Grzegorz and Sone, Hiroki and Bohnhoff, Marco and Dresen, Georg and Hartline, Craig}, title = {Spatiotemporal changes, faulting regimes, and source parameters of induced seismicity: A case study from the Geysers geothermal field}, series = {Journal of geophysical research : Solid earth}, volume = {119}, journal = {Journal of geophysical research : Solid earth}, number = {11}, publisher = {American Geophysical Union}, address = {Washington}, issn = {2169-9313}, doi = {10.1002/2014JB011385}, pages = {8378 -- 8396}, year = {2014}, abstract = {The spatiotemporal, kinematic, and source characteristics of induced seismicity occurring at different fluid injection rates are investigated to determine the predominant physical mechanisms responsible for induced seismicity at the northwestern part of The Geysers geothermal field, California. We analyze a relocated hypocenter catalog from a seismicity cluster where significant variations of the stress tensor orientation were previously observed to correlate with injection rates. We find that these stress tensor orientation changes may be related to increased pore pressure and the corresponding changes in poroelastic stresses at reservoir depth. Seismic events during peak injections tend to occur at greater distances from the injection well, preferentially trending parallel to the maximum horizontal stress direction. In contrast, at lower injection rates the seismicity tends to align in a different direction which suggests the presence of a local fault. During peak injection intervals, the relative contribution of strike-slip faulting mechanisms increases. Furthermore, increases in fluid injection rates also coincide with a decrease in b values. Our observations suggest that regardless of the injection stage, most of the induced seismicity results from thermal fracturing of the reservoir rock. However, during peak injection intervals, the increase in pore pressure may likewise be responsible for the induced seismicity. By estimating the thermal and hydraulic diffusivities of the reservoir, we confirm that the characteristic diffusion length for pore pressure is much greater than the corresponding length scale for temperature and also more consistent with the spatial extent of seismicity observed during different injection rates.}, language = {en} } @article{MartinezGarzonKwiatekBohnhoffetal.2016, author = {Martinez-Garzon, Patricia and Kwiatek, Grzegorz and Bohnhoff, Marco and Dresen, Georg}, title = {Impact of fluid injection on fracture reactivation at The Geysers geothermal field}, series = {Journal of geophysical research : Solid earth}, volume = {121}, journal = {Journal of geophysical research : Solid earth}, publisher = {American Geophysical Union}, address = {Washington}, issn = {2169-9313}, doi = {10.1002/2016JB013137}, pages = {7432 -- 7449}, year = {2016}, abstract = {We analyze the spatiotemporal distribution of fault geometries from seismicity induced by fluid injection at The Geysers geothermal field. The consistency of these faults with the local stress field is investigated using (1) the fault instability coefficient I comparing the orientation of a fault with the optimal orientation for failure in the assumed stress field and (2) the misfit angle beta between slip vectors observed from focal mechanisms and predicted from stress tensor. A statistical approach is applied to calculate the most likely fault instabilities considering the uncertainties from focal mechanisms and stress inversion. We find that faults activated by fluid injection may display a broad range in orientations. About 72\% of the analyzed seismicity occurs on faults with favorable orientation for failure with respect to the stress field. However, a number of events are observed either to occur on severely misoriented faults or to slip in a different orientation than predicted from stress field. These events mostly occur during periods of high injection rates and are located in proximity to the injection wells. From the stress inversion, the friction coefficient providing the largest overall instability is mu = 0.5. About 91\% of the events are activated with an estimated excess pore pressure <10 MPa, in agreement with previous models considering the combined effect of thermal and poroelastic stress changes from fluid injection. Furthermore, high seismic activity and largest magnitudes occur on favorably oriented faults with large instability coefficients and low slip misfit angles.}, language = {en} } @article{MartinezGarvonBohnhoffMencinetal.2019, author = {Martinez-Garvon, Patricia and Bohnhoff, Marco and Mencin, David and Kwiatek, Grzegorz and Dresen, Georg and Hodgkinson, Kathleen and Nurlu, Murat and Kadirioglu, Filiz Tuba and Kartal, Recai Feyiz}, title = {Slow strain release along the eastern Marmara region offshore Istanbul in conjunction with enhanced local seismic moment release}, series = {Earth \& planetary science letters}, volume = {510}, journal = {Earth \& planetary science letters}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0012-821X}, doi = {10.1016/j.epsl.2019.01.001}, pages = {209 -- 218}, year = {2019}, abstract = {We analyze a large transient strainmeter signal recorded at 62.5 m depth along the southern shore of the eastern Sea of Marmara region in northwestern Turkey. This region represents a passage of stress transfer from the Izmit rupture to the Marmara seismic gap. The strain signal was recorded at the Esenkoy site by one of the ICDP-GONAF (International Continental Drilling Programme - Geophysical Observatory at the North Anatolian Fault) strainmeters on the Armutlu peninsula with a maximum amplitude of 5 microstrain and lasting about 50 days. The onset of the strain signal coincided with the origin time of a M-w 4.4 earthquake offshore Yalova, which occurred as part of a seismic sequence including eight M-w >= 3.5 earthquakes. The Mw 4.4 event occurred at a distance of about 30 km from Esenkoy on June 25th 2016 representing the largest earthquake in this region since 2008. Before the event, the maximum horizontal strain was subparallel to the regional maximum horizontal stress derived from stress inversion of local seismicity. During the strain transient, we observe a clockwise rotation in the local horizontal strain field of about 20 degrees. The strain signal does not correlate with known environmental parameters such as annual changes of sea level, rainfall or temperature. The strain signal could indicate local slow slip on the Cinarcik fault and thus a transfer of stress to the eastern Marmara seismic gap.}, language = {en} }