Characteristics of Seismicity inside and outside the Salton Sea Geothermal Field

Abstract

Research Article| May 22, 2018 Characteristics of Seismicity inside and outside the Salton Sea Geothermal Field Yifang Cheng; Yifang Cheng aDepartment of Earth Science, University of Southern California, 3651 Trousdale Parkway, ZHS 117, Los Angeles, California 90089, chengyif@usc.edu Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Xiaowei Chen Xiaowei Chen bConocoPhilips School of Geology and Geophysics, University of Oklahoma, 100 East Boyd Street, RM 710, Norman, Oklahoma 73019 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Yifang Cheng aDepartment of Earth Science, University of Southern California, 3651 Trousdale Parkway, ZHS 117, Los Angeles, California 90089, chengyif@usc.edu Xiaowei Chen bConocoPhilips School of Geology and Geophysics, University of Oklahoma, 100 East Boyd Street, RM 710, Norman, Oklahoma 73019 Publisher: Seismological Society of America First Online: 22 May 2018 Online Issn: 1943-3573 Print Issn: 0037-1106 © Seismological Society of America Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (2018) 108 (4): 1877–1888. https://doi.org/10.1785/0120170311 Article history First Online: 22 May 2018 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Yifang Cheng, Xiaowei Chen; Characteristics of Seismicity inside and outside the Salton Sea Geothermal Field. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 2018;; 108 (4): 1877–1888. doi: https://doi.org/10.1785/0120170311 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyBulletin of the Seismological Society of America Search Advanced Search Abstract The number of human‐made earthquakes is on the rise in recent years and has led to increasing attention on the associated hazards. At the Salton Sea Geothermal field (SSGF), one of the largest geothermal field in southern California, a local borehole seismic network, has improved monitoring of small earthquakes and allows us to better understand the seismogenic response to injection operations and corresponding earthquake hazard. We analyze the spatial distribution of seismicity and b‐value for both inside and outside of the geothermal operation field from 2008 to 2014. Comparing with areas outside the geothermal production field, there are five times more small earthquakes (⁠M<2⁠) inside the production field at 2‐ to 5‐km depth range with high b‐value. But the seismic rate and depth range of large earthquakes (⁠M>3⁠) do not have an obvious relationship with injection activities, and most of them are located within low b‐value area. Then we investigate the characteristics of 48 spatiotemporal isolated earthquake clusters. The analysis reveals a wide distribution of swarms and aftershock sequences across the whole region. Meanwhile, there is a concentration of small‐magnitude‐mainshock swarms and mixture‐type clusters (small mainshock, short‐duration bursts with high aftershock productivity) within the high b‐value geothermal operation area. The differences suggest that geothermal operation has clear influence on seismicity characteristics, indicating a possibility of distinguishing induced seismicity from natural seismicity. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.