TY - JOUR A1 - Davidsen, Joern A1 - Kwiatek, Grzegorz A1 - Charalampidou, Elli-Maria A1 - Goebel, Thomas A1 - Stanchits, Sergei A1 - Rueck, Marc A1 - Dresen, Georg T1 - Triggering Processes in Rock Fracture JF - Physical review letters N2 - We study triggering processes in triaxial compression experiments under a constant displacement rate on sandstone and granite samples using spatially located acoustic emission events and their focal mechanisms. We present strong evidence that event-event triggering plays an important role in the presence of large-scale or macrocopic imperfections, while such triggering is basically absent if no significant imperfections are present. In the former case, we recover all established empirical relations of aftershock seismicity including the Gutenberg-Richter relation, a modified version of the Omori-Utsu relation and the productivity relation-despite the fact that the activity is dominated by compaction-type events and triggering cascades have a swarmlike topology. For the Gutenberg-Richter relations, we find that the b value is smaller for triggered events compared to background events. Moreover, we show that triggered acoustic emission events have a focal mechanism much more similar to their associated trigger than expected by chance. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.068501 SN - 0031-9007 SN - 1079-7114 VL - 119 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Martínez-Garzón, Patricia A1 - Kwiatek, Grzegorz A1 - Bohnhoff, Marco A1 - Dresen, Georg T1 - Volumetric components in the earthquake source related to fluid injection and stress state JF - Geophysical research letters N2 - 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. KW - non-double-couple components KW - induced seismicity KW - geothermal KW - stress state KW - tensile opening KW - pore pressure Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL071963 SN - 0094-8276 SN - 1944-8007 VL - 44 IS - 2 SP - 800 EP - 809 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zang, Arno A1 - Stephansson, Ove A1 - Stenberg, Leif A1 - Plenkers, Katrin A1 - von Specht, Sebastian A1 - Milkereit, Claus A1 - Schill, Eva A1 - Kwiatek, Grzegorz A1 - Dresen, Georg A1 - Zimmermann, Günter A1 - Dahm, Torsten A1 - Weber, Michael T1 - Hydraulic fracture monitoring in hard rock at 410 m depth with an advanced fluid-injection protocol and extensive sensor array JF - Geophysical journal international N2 - In this paper, an underground experiment at the Aspo Hard Rock Laboratory (HRL) is described. Main goal is optimizing geothermal heat exchange in crystalline rock mass at depth by multistage hydraulic fracturing with minimal impact on the environment, that is, seismic events. For this, three arrays with acoustic emission, microseismicity and electromagnetic sensors are installed mapping hydraulic fracture initiation and growth. Fractures are driven by three different water injection schemes (continuous, progressive and pulse pressurization). After a brief review of hydraulic fracture operations in crystalline rock mass at mine scale, the site geology and the stress conditions at Aspo HRL are described. Then, the continuous, single-flow rate and alternative, multiple-flow rate fracture breakdown tests in a horizontal borehole at depth level 410 m are described together with the monitoring networks and sensitivity. Monitoring results include the primary catalogue of acoustic emission hypocentres obtained from four hydraulic fractures with the in situ trigger and localizing network. The continuous versus alternative water injection schemes are discussed in terms of the fracture breakdown pressure, the fracture pattern from impression packer result and the monitoring at the arrays. An example of multistage hydraulic fracturing with several phases of opening and closing of fracture walls is evaluated using data from acoustic emissions, seismic broad-band recordings and electromagnetic signal response. Based on our limited amount of in situ tests (six) and evaluation of three tests in Avro granodiorite, in the multiple-flow rate test with progressively increasing target pressure, the acoustic emission activity starts at a later stage in the fracturing process compared to the conventional fracturing case with continuous water injection. In tendency, also the total number and magnitude of acoustic events are found to be smaller in the progressive treatment with frequent phases of depressurization. KW - Geomechanics KW - Fracture and flow KW - Broad-band seismometers Y1 - 2016 SN - 0956-540X SN - 1365-246X VL - 208 SP - 790 EP - 813 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER -