Transcript Slide 1

Table of contents
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First man induced
Earthquake
Theory
Dam!
Injecting fluids
Extraction
Mining
Other factors
First man-induced
Earthquake
Nikola Tesla
 Accidental earthquake created
in study of ground resonance
with a mechanical vibrator.
<<The rhythmical vibrations pass through the Earth with
almost no loss of energy. It becomes possible to convey
mechanical effects to the greatest terrestrial distances and
produce all kinds of unique effects. The invention could be
used with destructive effect in war>>
Tesla’s Controlled Earthquakes July 11, 1935 issue of the New York American �
Theoretically speaking
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So far, most of the induced earthquakes have been
accidental ones.
Artificial seismicity will commonly be induced as we
create some mass and pressure changes on the crust.
These events usually happen in already highly
stressed faulted areas. Anthropogenic factors are only
postponing what would happen at some point anyway
Coulomb stress changes (∆CSF) law
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∆ CSF = ∆ fault shear + fric. coef. * (∆ Pore pressure+ ∆ Normal stress)
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where with increasing CSF, the risk of failure
increases
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M>5 Induced Earthquakes.
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Dam / Reservoir DP or Hydrocarbon Field
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Magnitude Seismicity Induced Earthquakes
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Gazli field, EIS
7.3 low horizontal midplate
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Uzbekistan
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Koyna, RIS
6.5 low horizontal midplate
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India
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Coalinga field, EIS
6.5 high horizontal plate boundary
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USA
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Kremastaa, RIS
6.3 high vertical back arc extension
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Greece
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Hsinfengkiang, RIS
6.1 low horizontal midplate
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China
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Kettleman field, EIS
6.1 high horizontal plate boundary
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USA
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Montebello field, EIS
5.9 high horizontal plate boundary
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USA
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Oroville, RIS
5.9 low vertical Sierra Nevada foothills
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USA
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USA
Kariba, RIS
Zambia/Zimbabwee
Marathona, RIS
Greece
Aswana, RIS
Egypt
Eucumbene, RIS
Australia
Hoover, RIS
USA
Denver, IIS
USA
Caviaga, EIS
Italy
Lake County, IIS
USA
Monteynard, RIS
France
El Reno, EIS
USA
Snipe Lake, EIS
Canada
5.8 low vertical midplate
5.7 high n.a plate boundary
5.5 low vertical midplate
5.5 low n.a midplate
5.5 low vertical Colorado plateau
5.5 low vertical Colorado plateau
5.5 low horizontal midplate
5.3 low horizontal midplate
5.3 low vertical Alps foothills
5.2 low horizontal midplate
5.1 low horizontal midplate
Water Dam
Most common factor concerning
induced seismicity (one third of
world artificial occurences)
 Higher density of H2O compared
to air  increase the weight stress
and the porosity pressure on the
crust supporting reservoir.
 We usually can see a
direct correlation between
the filling of the water and
the CSF value
 Risk varying depending on
the reservoir emplacement
and the fault plane
orientation
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At home...
Manic 5 
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142 km3
which represents
142 000 000 000 metric tons
Dam! What a disaster
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33 sure cases of reservoir-induced seismicity or M>4 (7 of them
were over 5.5)
Most know event is the Koyna Reservoir (India) earthquake in
1967. M=6.3 Over 200 fatalities and more than 1500 injured.
Heated debates on the responsibility of the Zipingpu reservoir in
the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Over 68000 fatalities and has been
felt all over China.
Combined gravitational loading and pore pressure diffusion
leaded to a ∆CSF of 0.1 Mpa in the upper 10km beneath the
reservoir. During the initial impoundment, notable number of
earthquakes (M 3.5)
In general…
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∆CSF will increase as the dam is filled
This may significantly shorten the time before
earthquake occurrence. Sometimes add up the
stress that would take hundred years too
accumulate by shear or normal stress.
Seismicity may occur while the dam is filling or
after.
The potential hypocenter (of a fault) will tend to
move towards the dam (has to be accounted when
the dam is built)
To avoid any risk, try not to build close to fault
systems
Extraction seismicity
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Extraction of oil, gaz and geothermal
energy may lead to compaction by
underground crust subsidence (result in
seismicity).
Some faults are usually slipping
aseismically due to crust fluids. Extraction
of these fluids may conduct to a lock up of
the slipping (no moving anymore due to
friction). The fault would then accumulate
the stress until it bursts into an earthquake.
We recorded worldwide over 24 oil fields
associated with seismicity of M>3
Some believe the three earthquakes (m7)
in Uzbekistan (1976-1980) (more than a
thousand fatalities)could have been
induced by the gas extraction installations.
(injections and extraction)
Injection-induced seismicity
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Fluids are sometimes injected into the ground using it
as a waste disposal or as an artificial fluid tank (oil or
gas).
Such injections increase the pore pressure and
usually lead to a decrease in the fault’s effective
normal stress
In 1961, army decided to dispose of toxic waste from
napalm production: 165 million gallons pumped
12000 foot deep into the rockies in denver. They had
to stop the operation when seismicity went out of
control. The periods and amounts of injected waste
coincided with the frequency and magnitude of the
quakes
Risks of contamination
Seismicity induced by
Mining and Quarrying
 UNDERGROUND MINING
 Underground mining will tend to remove
an important supporting mass.
 It will lead in an increase of the pressure and stresses on the column
and rock structure left behind.
 Can result in failure of the walls, ceiling or floor and on movement
along pre-existing fault or even new faulting
 SURFACE MINING
 Will remove an important mass from the crust which may result in a
spring up motion of the layers at depths.
 The waste rock will add a weight load on the waste area
 depending on the fault attitude and how we dig, numerous scenarios
can occur, the two of them can even sometimes counteract so the
earthquake occurrence will be delayed.
Other earthquake inducing
factors
The tallest buildings: Cities are really heavy. We are
adding some significant weight on the city ground
Some geologists (2005) claimed that the second tallest
building of the world, the Taipei 101 (Tawain), with a
weight of 700 000 metric tons, was inducing
seismicity on a long dormant fault. Some
earthquakes were triggered
 Underground Nuclear Testing. Strong shockwaves
can add energy to the fault system. However, for high
scale induced seismicity, a wave shock is often less
effective than mass or pressure changes.
 H.A.A.R.P. (High Frequency Active Auroral Research
Program)
shooting a billion watt electromagnetic beam into the
ionosphere which would reflect back the waves
toward the crust. If you build up resonance, you can
add lots of energy to some rock layers. Hopefully,
Lex Luthor won’t put his nasty hands on this.
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