Acoustic monitoring of laboratory induced fault reactivation

Conference paper (2022)

Authors

A. Veltmeijer Student
M. Naderloo Applied Geophysics and Petrophysics - CEG
Anne Pluymakers Applied Geophysics and Petrophysics - CEG
A. Barnhoorn Applied Geophysics and Petrophysics - CEG
Research Group
Applied Geophysics and Petrophysics (CEG) (TU Delft)
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Published Date

2022

Language

English

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Faculty

Civil Engineering & Geosciences

Department

Geoscience and Engineering

Research Group

Applied Geophysics and Petrophysics

Abstract

The risk of induced seismicity is increasing, due to the increasing human activities in the subsurface, such as gas extraction, geothermal energy production, or CO2 storage. To mitigate the seismic hazard and limit the risk, monitoring and forecasting are essential. We performed stress-driven and fluid-injection-driven fault reactivation on saw-cut faulted sandstone samples. Simultaneously to the fault reactivation, active acoustic transmission measurements were performed. The transmission data was analyzed using transmissivity, Coda Wave Interferometry and Decorrelation. They show clear changes in their signal before fault reactivation. This is attributed to the pre-slip, therefore these acoustic parameters are precursory signals to the imminent fault slip and can be used to forecast the upcoming seismicity. They provide a potential method for monitoring and forecasting to minimize the risk of natural and induced earthquakes.