Marco Bohnhoff

Microseismicity at the North Anatolian Fault in the Sea of Marmara offshore Istanbul, NW Turkey

[1]xa0The North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) below the Sea of Marmara forms a “seismic gap” where a major earthquake is expected to occur in the near future. This segment of the fault lies between the 1912 Ganos and 1999 Izmit ruptures and is the only NAFZ segment that has not ruptured since 1766. To monitor the microseismic activity at the main fault branch offshore of Istanbul below the Cinarcik Basin, a permanent seismic array (PIRES) was installed on the two outermost Prince Islands, Yassiada and Sivriada, at a few kilometers distance to the fault. In addition, a temporary network of ocean bottom seismometers was deployed throughout the Cinarcik Basin. Slowness vectors are determined combining waveform cross correlation and P wave polarization. We jointly invert azimuth and traveltime observations for hypocenter determination and apply a bootstrap resampling technique to quantify the location precision. We observe seismicity rates of 20 events per month for M < 2.5 along the basin. The spatial distribution of hypocenters suggests that the two major fault branches bounding the depocenter below the Cinarcik Basin merge to one single master fault below ∼17 km depth. On the basis of a cross-correlation technique we group closely spaced earthquakes and determine composite focal mechanisms implementing recordings of surrounding permanent land stations. Fault plane solutions have a predominant right-lateral strike-slip mechanism, indicating that normal faulting along this part of the NAFZ plays a minor role. Toward the west we observe increasing components of thrust faulting. This supports the model of NW trending, dextral strike-slip motion along the northern and main branch of the NAFZ below the eastern Sea of Marmara.

Probing the Crust to 9-km Depth: Fluid-Injection Experiments and Induced Seismicity at the KTB Superdeep Drilling Hole, Germany

A 60-day, long-term fluid-injection experiment was performed at the 9.1-km-deep Kontinentale Tiefbohrung, Germany (KTB), borehole. About 4000 m3 of water were injected into the well head to induce seismicity near the open-hole section at 9-km depth. Because of several leaks in the borehole casing (unknown before), seismicity occurred at distinct depth levels between 3-km and 9-km depth. Two events occurred at 10-km and 15-km depth. The combination of a temporary, 40-element, three-component surface network of seismometers and a three-component downhole sonde at 3.8-km depth in the nearby pilot hole enabled us to determine absolute hypocenter locations by using a velocity model that was calibrated from several downhole shots at depths of 5.4 km and 8.5 km. Of a total of 2799 induced events, hypocenter locations were obtained for 237 events having good signal-to-noise ratio at surface stations. The spatiotemporal distribution of hypocenters at each depth level exhibits complex structures extending several hundred meters from the injection points, with strong spatial and temporal clustering. Regions that were seismically active at a certain time often showed reduced or no activity at later times, indicating local shear-stress relaxation. A similar “memory” effect (Kaiser effect) is observed by comparing hypocenter locations of the present experiment with those obtained for a previous injection experiment at KTB. The limitation of hypocentral depths to 9.1 km for events near the borehole suggests changes in rheological properties of the upper crust and thus supports a transition from the regime of brittle failure to ductile deformation at this depth. Large fluid-level changes observed in the nearby pilot hole demonstrate that fluid flow occurs over distances greater than 1.5 km and that major flow zones are not mapped by the induced seismicity. This might also explain the occurence of isolated events at greater distances and depths. Brittle failure at depths greater than 10 km indicates the existence of critically stressed fractures even at temperature over 300°C.

Fault mechanisms of induced seismicity at the superdeep German Continental Deep Drilling Program (KTB) borehole and their relation to fault structure and stress field

[1]xa0One hundred twenty-five fault plane solutions for microearthquakes induced during a long-term fluid injection experiment at the German Continental Deep Drilling Program (KTB) boreholes (Germany) in 2000 are investigated. A predominant strike-slip mechanism is observed, partly with components of normal but also with reverse faulting. Adding 54 fault plane solutions of an earlier injection experiment at the KTB, we determine the local stress field and find a subhorizontal north-south orientation for the maximum principal stress and a near-vertical orientation for the intermediate principal stress. The stress field exhibits no temporal or spatial variations within the resolved accuracy of ±15°. However, the results of the stress tensor inversion point to heterogeneities of second order. On the basis of the hypocentral distribution of the induced microearthquakes and the similarity of fault mechanisms, we relate our data to the fault structure at the KTB. We find that the larger faults act as pathways for the injected fluid, whereas the brittle failure occurs on fault asperities of the larger mapped faults and nearby smaller faults, both in agreement with the local stress field. Applying a thorough error analysis of the individual fault plane solutions, we correlate the diversity of mechanisms with their strength and find that the strongest events tend to a representative mechanism that is in good correspondence with the stress field. In contrast, the diversity of fault mechanisms is larger for the smaller events, indicating local stress perturbations.

An earthquake gap south of Istanbul

Over the last century the North Anatolian Fault Zone in Turkey has produced a remarkable sequence of large earthquakes. These events have now left an earthquake gap south of Istanbul and beneath the Marmara Sea, a gap that has not been filled for 250 years. Here we investigate the nature of the eastern end of this gap using microearthquakes recorded by seismographs primarily on the Princes Islands offshore Istanbul. This segment lies at the western terminus of the 1999 Mw7.4 Izmit earthquake. Starting from there, we identify a 30-km-long fault patch that is entirely aseismic down to a depth of 10 km. Our evidence indicates that this patch is locked and is therefore a potential nucleation point for another Marmara segment earthquake-a potential that has significant natural hazards implications for the roughly 13 million Istanbul residents immediately to its north.

Spatiotemporal changes, faulting regimes, and source parameters of induced seismicity: A case study from The Geysers geothermal field

The spatiotemporal, kinematic, and source characteristics of induced seismicity occurring at different fluid injection rates are investigated to determine the predominant physical mechanisms responsible for induced seismicity at the northwestern part of The Geysers geothermal field, California. We analyze a relocated hypocenter catalog from a seismicity cluster where significant variations of the stress tensor orientation were previously observed to correlate with injection rates. We find that these stress tensor orientation changes may be related to increased pore pressure and the corresponding changes in poroelastic stresses at reservoir depth. Seismic events during peak injections tend to occur at greater distances from the injection well, preferentially trending parallel to the maximum horizontal stress direction. In contrast, at lower injection rates the seismicity tends to align in a different direction which suggests the presence of a local fault. During peak injection intervals, the relative contribution of strike-slip faulting mechanisms increases. Furthermore, increases in fluid injection rates also coincide with a decrease in b values. Our observations suggest that regardless of the injection stage, most of the induced seismicity results from thermal fracturing of the reservoir rock. However, during peak injection intervals, the increase in pore pressure may likewise be responsible for the induced seismicity. By estimating the thermal and hydraulic diffusivities of the reservoir, we confirm that the characteristic diffusion length for pore pressure is much greater than the corresponding length scale for temperature and also more consistent with the spatial extent of seismicity observed during different injection rates.

MSATSI: A MATLAB Package for Stress Inversion Combining Solid Classic Methodology, a New Simplified User‐Handling, and a Visualization Tool

Online Material: Figures of complete stress inversion results.nnThe estimation of the stress‐field orientation from focal mechanisms of earthquakes is a relevant tool to understand crustal mechanics and the physics of earthquakes. In global seismology, Formal Stress Inversion (FSI) is a well‐established technique to study tectonic processes associated with the occurrence of large earthquakes (e.g., Hardebeck and Michael, 2004; Yoshida etxa0al. , 2012). Information on the stress‐field orientation is also relevant for the exploitation of hydrocarbon and geothermal reservoirs. Knowledge of the orientation of the maximum horizontal stress ( σ Hmax) is crucial for reservoir development, such as drilling and leakage risk assessment (Terakawa etxa0al. , 2012; Martinez‐Garzon etxa0al. , 2013). Additionally, the FSI technique may be useful for understanding the physics of rupture processes at a microscale in the frame of rock deformation experiments in the laboratory.nnIn seismological practice, the stress tensor is obtained either from inverting earthquake focal mechanisms or directly from first‐motion polarities. Most of the developed FSI methods share two main assumptions: nnEstimation of stress‐field orientation is a nonlinear inverse problem that can be solved either directly or linearized. When solving the nonlinear inverse problem, the best‐fitting stress tensor to the group of focal mechanisms is obtained using grid‐search algorithms (Gephart and Forsyth, 1984; Gephart, 1990; Arnold and Townend, 2007) or Monte Carlo sampling‐based optimization methods (Angelier, 1984; Xu, 2004). The linearized inversion scheme is solved by a generally less computationally extensive least‐squares technique (Michael, 1984; Hardebeck and Michael, 2006).nnBecause of …

Effects of long‐term fluid injection on induced seismicity parameters and maximum magnitude in northwestern part of The Geysers geothermal field

The long-term temporal and spatial changes in statistical, source, and stress characteristics of one cluster of induced seismicity recorded at The Geysers geothermal field (U.S.) are analyzed in relation to the field operations, fluid migration, and constraints on the maximum likely magnitude. Two injection wells, Prati-9 and Prati-29, located in the northwestern part of the field and their associated seismicity composed of 1776 events recorded throughout a 7u2009year period were analyzed. The seismicity catalog was relocated, and the source characteristics including focal mechanisms and static source parameters were refined using first-motion polarity, spectral fitting, and mesh spectral ratio analysis techniques. The source characteristics together with statistical parameters (b value) and cluster dynamics were used to investigate and understand the details of fluid migration scheme in the vicinity of injection wells. The observed temporal, spatial, and source characteristics were clearly attributed to fluid injection and fluid migration toward greater depths, involving increasing pore pressure in the reservoir. The seasonal changes of injection rates were found to directly impact the shape and spatial extent of the seismic cloud. A tendency of larger seismic events to occur closer to injection wells and a correlation between the spatial extent of the seismic cloud and source sizes of the largest events was observed suggesting geometrical constraints on the maximum likely magnitude and its correlation to the average injection rate and volume of fluids present in the reservoir.

Characterization of aftershock‐fault plane orientations of the 1999 İzmit (Turkey) earthquake using high‐resolution aftershock locations

[1]xa0Joint inversion for hypocentral parameters and the velocity field is nowadays a state of the art tool to obtain high-resolution images of seismically active regions. In this study, we focus on the location accuracy of aftershocks of the 1999 Mw = 7.4 Izmit (NW Turkey) earthquake. We obtained a new velocity model for the region, and depicted its improvement on absolute locations in terms of uncertainty and misfit. Two well-developed aftershock clusters located in the Akyazi area and Karadere-Duzce region, were analyzed in detail based on a waveform cross-correlation approach that allowed improving the location accuracy by a factor of 6. Relocation results reveal that hypocenters form narrow planes of activity that can be correlated with focal mechanisms of the larger aftershocks as well as nearby clouds of activity with no internal structure down to the resolved scale of ∼300 m.

The East Anatolian Fault Zone: Seismotectonic setting and spatiotemporal characteristics of seismicity based on precise earthquake locations

[1]xa0The East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ) represents a plate boundary extending over ∼500 km between the Arabian and Anatolian plates. Relative plate motion occurs with slip rates ranging from 6 to 10 mm/yr and has resulted in destructive earthquakes in eastern Turkey as documented by historical records. In this study, we investigate the seismic activity along the EAFZ and fault kinematics based on recordings from a densified regional seismic network providing the best possible azimuthal coverage for the target region. We optimize a reference 1-D velocity model using a grid-search approach and re-locate hypocenters using the Double-Difference earthquake relocation technique. The refined hypocenter catalog provides insights into the kinematics and internal deformation of the fault zone down to a resolution ranging typically between 100 and 200 m. The distribution of hypocenters suggests that the EAFZ is characterized by NE-SW and E-W oriented sub-segments that are sub-parallel to the overall trend of the fault zone. Faulting mechanisms are predominantly left-lateral strike-slip and thus in good correlation with the deformation pattern derived from regional GPS data. However, we also observe local clusters of thrust and normal faulting events, respectively. While normal faulting events typically occur on NS-trending subsidiary faults, thrust faulting is restricted to EW-trending structures. This observation is in good accordance with kinematic models proposed for evolving shear zones. The observed spatiotemporal evolution of hypocenters indicates a systematic migration of micro- and moderate-sized earthquakes from the main fault into adjacent fault segments within several days documenting progressive interaction between the major branch of the EAFZ and its secondary structures. Analyzing the pre versus post-seismic phase for M > 5 events we find that aftershock activities are initially spread to the entire source region for several months but start to cluster at the central part of the main shock rupture thereafter.

Passive Seismic Monitoring of Natural and Induced Earthquakes: Case Studies, Future Directions and Socio-Economic Relevance

An important discovery in crustal mechanics has been that the Earth’s crust is commonly stressed close to failure, even in tectonically quiet areas. As a result, small natural or man-made perturbations to the local stress field may trigger earthquakes. To understand these processes, Passive Seismic Monitoring (PSM) with seismometer arrays is a widely used technique that has been successfully applied to study seismicity at different magnitude levels ranging from acoustic emissions generated in the laboratory under controlled conditions, to seismicity induced by hydraulic stimulations in geological reservoirs, and up to great earthquakes occurring along plate boundaries. In all these environments the appropriate deployment of seismic sensors, i.e., directly on the rock sample, at the earth’s surface or in boreholes close to the seismic sources allows for the detection and location of brittle failure processes at sufficiently low magnitude-detection threshold and with adequate spatial resolution for further analysis. One principal aim is to develop an improved understanding of the physical processes occurring at the seismic source and their relationship to the host geologic environment. In this paper we review selected case studies and future directions of PSM efforts across a wide range of scales and environments. These include induced failure within small rock samples, hydrocarbon reservoirs, and natural seismicity at convergent and transform plate boundaries. Each example represents a milestone with regard to bridging the gap between laboratory-scale experiments under controlled boundary conditions and large-scale field studies. The common motivation for all studies is to refine the understanding of how earthquakes nucleate, how they proceed and how they interact in space and time. This is of special relevance at the larger end of the magnitude scale, i.e., for large devastating earthquakes due to their severe socio-economic impact.