A Decade of Induced Slip on the Causative Fault of the 2015 Mw 4.0 Venus Earthquake, Northeast Johnson County, Texas. Issue 10 (7th October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Scales, Monique M.; DeShon, Heather R.; Magnani, M. Beatrice; Walter, Jacob I.; Quinones, Louis; Pratt, Thomas L.; Hornbach, Matthew J.
• Is Part Of: Journal of geophysical research. Volume 122:Issue 10(2017)
• Page Start: 7879
• Page End: 7894
• Publication Date: 2017-10-07
• Subjects: induced earthquakes -- Fort Worth Basin -- wastewater injection -- North Texas earthquakes; Geomagnetism -- Periodicals; Geochemistry -- Periodicals; Geophysics -- Periodicals; Earth sciences -- Periodicals; 551.1
• DOI: 10.1002/2017JB014460
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2169-9313

Abstract

Abstract: On 7 May 2015, a M w 4.0 earthquake occurred near Venus, northeast Johnson County, Texas, in an area of the Bend Arch‐Fort Worth Basin that reports long‐term, high‐volume wastewater disposal and that has hosted felt earthquakes since 2009. In the weeks following the M w 4.0 earthquake, we deployed a local seismic network and purchased nearby active‐source seismic reflection data to capture additional events, characterize the causative fault, and explore potential links between ongoing industry activity and seismicity. Hypocenter relocations of the resulting local earthquake catalog span ~4–6 km depth and indicate a fault striking ~230°, dipping to the west, consistent with a nodal plane of the M w 4.0 regional moment tensor. Fault plane solutions indicate normal faulting, with B axes striking parallel to maximum horizontal compressive stress. Seismic reflection data image the reactivated basement fault penetrating the Ordovician disposal layer and Mississippian production layer, but not displacing post‐Lower Pennsylvanian units. Template matching at regional seismic stations indicates that low‐magnitude earthquakes with similar waveforms began in April 2008, with increasing magnitude over time. Pressure data from five saltwater disposal wells within 5 km of the active fault indicate a disposal formation that is 0.9–4.8 MPa above hydrostatic. We suggest that the injection of 28, 000, 000 m 3 of wastewater between 2006 and 2015 at these wells led to an increase in subsurface pore fluid pressure that contributed to inducing this long‐lived earthquake sequence. The 2015 M w 4.0 event represents the largest event in the continuing evolution of slip on the causative fault. Key Points: Seismicity spans nearly 10 years with maximum magnitude increasing with time Wastewater disposal at five wells has led to an overpressured formation that is hydraulically connected with the seismogenic basement Induced earthquakes occur only where the host fault is optimally oriented for failure within the regional stress field