The purpose of this project is to better understand how deep injection of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing is causing seismicity. Numerous studies have established a relationship between the two (Weingarten et al. 2015), but it is unclear why some faults become active due to the fluid injection and others do not. Our aim is to better understand what faults specifically are being activated, whether there are patterns in the orientation and depths, and how the seismicity changes on these faults over time. This understanding would help us to assess the hazard associated with different types of faults and how these change over time. We have chosen to focus on West Texas, which has become the area in the U.S with the highest rate of human induced seismicity (Skoumal et al. 2020), rivaling rates of tectonic seismicity in California. We will be particularly focused on Culberson County where the largest events have occurred (Skoumal et al. 2020).
Author(s): James Kirchenwitz
Advisor(s): Mike Brudzinski, Geology and Environmental Earth Science
Mehrnaz Khalkhali, Geology and Environmental Earth Science
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