Fracture Mapping Using Induced Microearthquakes

Introduction

We use induced microearthquakes to study fracture and joint geometry and their influence on fluid-flow paths. Fracture mapping at Los Alamos started with the Hot Dry Rock geothermal project. In 1990 we began to apply these techniques to oil and gas problems. The above figure shows seismic data collected during steady-state production from a shallow, carbonate oil reservoir in Clinton Co. Kentucky. Below is the reservoir's productive fracture geometry delineated from the microearthquake locations detected over a 6-month period. 		Data Acquisition
Cool Graph Acknowledgments - Our research has been supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Petroleum Technology Office, the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, the Natural Gas and Oil Technology Partnership Program, and the Office of Geothermal Technologies, as well as, the Gas Technology Institute.

Mail comments or questions to Jim Rutledge or Scott Phillips.

See also the website of the former EES-4.

Related Projects Worldwide - Please visit the home pages of Professor Niitsuma's laboratory at Tohoku University and More Than Cloud Project: Establishment of new mapping/imaging technologies for advanced energy extraction from deep geothermal reservoirs

Related Los Alamos Projects - Please see pages describing Hot Dry Rock project.


Recent Publications

Our most recent papers are availabe on-line as HTML files and as Adobe PDF files. Free PDF readers are available from Adobe for MacOS, SunOS, Solaris, DOS, and Windows.

Rutledge, J.T., and Phillips, W.S., 2002, A comparison of microseismicity induced by gel-proppant- and water-injected hydraulic fractures, Carthage Cotton Valley gas field, East Texas, Soc. Explor. Geophys., 72nd Ann. Internat. Mtg., Expanded Abstracts, (submitted), Salt Lake City, October 6 - 11, 2002. 1.0 MB PDF

Rutledge, J.T., and Phillips, W.S., 2002, Hydraulic stimulation of natural fractures as revealed by induced microearthquakes, Carthage Cotton Valley gas field, east Texas, submitted to Geophysics, March, 2001. 850 KB PDF

Phillips, W.S., Rutledge, J.T., House, L.S. and Fehler, M.C., 2002, Induced microearthquake patterns in hydrocarbon and geothermal reservoirs: Six case studies, preprint Pure and Applied Geophysics, 159, 345-369. 600 KB PDF

Rutledge, J.T., Stark, M.A., Fairbanks, T.D., Anderson, T.D., 2002, Near-surface microearthquakes at The Geysers geothermal field, California, preprint Pure and Applied Geophysics, 159, 473-487. 300 KB PDF

Phillips, W.S., 2000, Precise microearthquake locations and fluid flow in the geothermal reservoir at Soultz-sous-Forets, France, preprint, Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 90, 212-228. 4.2 MB PDF

Fehler, M., Phillips, W.S., House, L., Jones, R.H., Aster, R. and Rowe, C., 2000, Improved relative locations of clustered earthquakes using constrained multiple event location, preprint, Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 90, 775-780. 400 KB PDF

Starzec, P., Fehler, M., Baria, R. and Niitsuma, H., 2000, Anisotropy of source parameters from induced microseismicity, preprint, Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 90, 1528-1534. 700 KB PDF

Phillips, W.S., D.C. Pearson, X. Yang, and B.W. Stump, 1999, Aftershocks of an explosively induced mine collapse at White Pine, Michigan, preprint, Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 89, 1575-1590. 2.0 MB PDF

Rutledge, J.T., Phillips, W.S., House, L.S. and Zinno, R.J., 1998, Microseismic mapping of a Cotton Valley hydraulic fracture using decimated downhole arrays, Soc. Explor. Geophys. 68th Ann. Internat. Mtg., Expanded Abstracts, 338-341, New Orleans, Louisiana, September, 1998. 100 KB PDF

Rutledge, J.T., Phillips, W.S. and B.K. Schuessler, 1998, Reservoir Characterization Using Oil-Production-Induced Microseismicity, Clinton County, Kentucky, preprint, Tectonophysics, 289, 129-152. 500 KB PDF

Phillips, W.S., T.D. Fairbanks, J.T. Rutledge and D.W. Anderson, 1998, Induced Microearthquake Patterns and Oil-Producing Fracture Systems in the Austin Chalk, preprint, Tectonophysics, 289, 153-169. Abstract and 1 MB PDF

Phillips, W.S., J.T. Rutledge, T.D. Fairbanks, T.L. Gardner, M.E. Miller and B.S. Maher, 1998, Reservoir fracture mapping using microearthquakes: Two oilfield case studies, preprint, Soc. Petrol. Eng., Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering, April 1998, 114-121. (Peer reviewed version of SPE 36651 listed below), 600 KB PDF

Fehler, M.C., L. House, and W.S. Phillips, 1997, Identifying structures in clouds of induced microseismic events, Soc. Explor. Geophys. 67th Ann. Internat. Mtg., Expanded Abstracts, Dallas, Texas, Novemeber, 1997. 300 KB PDF

Phillips, W.S., L.S. House and M.C. Fehler, 1997, Detailed Joint Structure in a Geothermal Reservoir from Studies of Induced Microearthquake Clusters, preprint, J. Geophys. Res., 102, 11745-11763. Abstract, and 3.8 MB PDF

Phillips, W.S., J.T. Rutledge, T.D. Fairbanks, T.L. Gardner, M.E. Miller and B.K. Schuessler, Reservoir fracture mapping using microearthquakes: Austin chalk, Giddings field, TX and 76 field, Clinton Co., KY, paper SPE 36651, Soc. of Petro. Eng. Ann. Tech. Conf., 1996. Abstract and 600 KB PDF

Roff, A., W.S. Phillips and D.W. Brown, 1996, Joint structures determined by clustering microearthquakes using waveform amplitude ratios, Int. J. Rock Mech. and Min. Sci. and Geomech. Abstr., 33, 627-639. Abstract, HTML Paper or 1.6 MB PDF

Rutledge, J.T., Phillips, W.S., Roff, A, Albright, J.N., Hamilton-Smith, T., Jones, S., and, Kimmich, K., Subsurface fracture mapping using microearthquakes detected during primary oil production, Clinton County, Kentucky, paper SPE 28384, Soc. of Petro. Eng. Ann. Tech. Conf., 1994.

Block, L., C. H. Cheng, M. C. Fehler and W. S. Phillips, 1994, Seismic imaging using microearthquakes induced by hydraulic fracturing, Geophysics, 59, 102-112.