CAREER: Fluid-driven Deformation in Underground Salt Caverns and Wastewater Injection Sites

职业：地下盐穴和废水注入场的流体驱动变形

• 批准号: 2045983
• 负责人: Patricia Persaud
• 金额: $ 58.91万
• 依托单位: Louisiana State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-05-01 至 2026-04-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2045983&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Fluid; driven; Deformation; Underground

Earthquakes caused by human activities - such as wastewater injection, geothermal extraction, and underground carbon storage - tend to be small. With notable exceptions, such as the 2016 Pawnee Oklahoma earthquake, these earthquakes often hide below cultural seismic noise. This presents a challenge for both monitoring and detecting them. It impedes studying their causes and assessing corresponding hazards. In the U.S., regions that have been free of earthquakes are now pressed to find reliable ways to address earthquake risks. Research on induced seismicity has expanded in the last decade; but studies have mostly focused on known hotspots in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming. Yet, it is expected that induced earthquakes will occur in regions which did not face this threat before. It is, thus, critical to monitor and catalog the natural baseline seismicity in these regions before induced earthquakes happen; this allows detecting when seismicity rises above background levels and assessing the risks. One such location is the State of Louisiana. It is currently at the threshold of implementing CO2 storage and increased oil and gas exploration. However, Louisiana lacks a statewide seismic network and monitoring program to assess seismic hazards. Here, the researchers integrate research and education in the aim to understand human-driven changes in Louisiana. Deploying geophysical and seismic instruments, they study three key locations related to human activities and resources. These locations are: 1) in northwest Louisiana, a region with high wastewater injection rates; 2) an underground storage cavern, where ground motions have been reported and nearby sinkhole formation has occurred (with precursor earthquake activity); 3) across the Baton Rouge fault that also acts as a patchy barrier for salt water. Integrating multiple data types, the team gradually unveils the new threats Louisiana is facing. The project also provides support to an early-career female scientist, one postdoctoral researcher, and graduate and undergraduate students. It includes the establishment of student-focused regional workshops, notably on Machine Learning applications in Geophysics. The project also fosters broadening participation in science, e.g., by involving students from the Southern University at Baton Rouge, a Historically Black University. This project is jointly funded by the Geophysics Program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).The project is an integrated geophysical study of multiple data types. It produces a detailed characterization of fluid-involved crustal deformation. The results have important societal implications for energy corridors undergoing rapid human change. They characterize the largely unknown deformation of the subsurface beneath a region that supplies a major part of the U.S. oil and gas. This region is challenged by ongoing subsidence, groundwater salinization, and increasing seismicity associated with wastewater disposal from hydrocarbon exploration. The seismic arrays installed at three key locations not only measure the levels of seismicity, but also constrain the poorly understood aseismic deformation. Indeed, innovative techniques are applied, such as Fracture Seismic imaging, that image fluid-filled networks by using harmonic resonances within fractures. Seismological methods are integrated with GPS data analysis to understand the deformation budget of the crust. This approach provides insight into the pattern of crustal deformation driven by human activities. One expected outcome is the first high-resolution mapping of fracture geometry and connectivity, subsurface material properties, and seismic and aseismic deformation in the region. The study, thus, has far-reaching impacts on our general understanding of fluid-driven processes and their effects on crustal deformation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

由人类活动引起的地震——比如废水注入、地热开采和地下碳储存——往往很小。除了值得注意的例外，比如2016年俄克拉何马州波尼地震，这些地震通常隐藏在文化地震噪音之下。这对监测和检测它们都提出了挑战。它阻碍了研究其原因和评估相应的危害。在美国，那些没有地震的地区现在面临着寻找可靠的方法来应对地震风险的压力。近十年来，对诱发地震活动的研究得到了扩展；但研究主要集中在阿肯色州、科罗拉多州、堪萨斯州、俄亥俄州、俄克拉荷马州、德克萨斯州和怀俄明州的已知热点地区。然而，预计诱发地震将发生在以前没有面临这种威胁的地区。因此，在诱发地震发生前对这些地区的自然基线地震活动进行监测和编录是至关重要的；这可以探测到地震活动何时超过背景水平并评估风险。路易斯安那州就是这样一个地方。目前，它正处于实施二氧化碳储存和增加石油和天然气勘探的门槛。然而，路易斯安那州缺乏一个全州范围的地震网络和监测项目来评估地震危害。在这里，研究人员将研究和教育结合起来，目的是了解路易斯安那州人为驱动的变化。他们利用地球物理和地震仪器，研究了与人类活动和资源有关的三个关键地点。这些地点是：1)路易斯安那州西北部，一个废水注入率高的地区；2)一个地下储藏库，在那里已经报告了地面运动，附近已经形成了天坑（具有前兆地震活动）；3)穿过巴吞鲁日断层，该断层也充当了海水的斑驳屏障。整合多种数据类型，团队逐渐揭示了路易斯安那州面临的新威胁。该项目还为一名早期职业女性科学家、一名博士后研究员以及研究生和本科生提供支持。它包括建立以学生为中心的区域研讨会，特别是机器学习在地球物理学中的应用。该项目还促进了对科学的广泛参与，例如，来自巴吞鲁日南方大学（一所历史悠久的黑人大学）的学生参与其中。该项目由地球物理计划和促进竞争性研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助。该项目是多种数据类型的综合地球物理研究。它产生了流体引起的地壳变形的详细特征。研究结果对经历快速人类变化的能源走廊具有重要的社会意义。他们描述了一个地区地下很大程度上未知的变形，这个地区提供了美国大部分的石油和天然气。该地区面临着持续下沉、地下水盐渍化以及与油气勘探废水处理相关的地震活动增加的挑战。安装在三个关键地点的地震阵列不仅可以测量地震活动水平，还可以约束人们知之甚少的地震变形。实际上，一些创新技术已经得到了应用，例如裂缝地震成像，利用裂缝内的谐波共振对充满流体的网络进行成像。将地震学方法与GPS数据分析相结合，了解地壳的变形收支。这种方法提供了对人类活动驱动的地壳变形模式的深入了解。预期的结果之一是首次绘制裂缝几何形状和连通性、地下物质属性以及该地区地震和地震变形的高分辨率地图。因此，这项研究对我们对流体驱动过程及其对地壳变形的影响的一般理解具有深远的影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

ANALYSIS OF MICROEARTHQUAKES TO IDENTIFY WEAK POINTS IN THE SUBSURFACE AS OBSERVED FROM A SALT DOME STUDY

分析微地震以识别盐丘研究中观察到的地下薄弱点

• DOI: 10.1130/abs/2021am-370729
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs
• 作者: Omojola, Joses;Persaud, Patricia
• 通讯作者: Persaud, Patricia

The Role of Geophysics in Improving the Safety of Underground Storage in a Carbon-Neutral Future

地球物理学在碳中和未来提高地下储存安全方面的作用

• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: AGU Fall Meeting 2022
• 作者: Omojola, Joses;Persaud, Patricia
• 通讯作者: Persaud, Patricia

Searching for Hidden Microearthquakes using Data-based, Physics-based, and Hybrid Models: Implications for Salt Dome Monitoring

使用基于数据、基于物理和混合模型搜索隐藏的微地震：对盐丘监测的影响

• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Southern California Earthquake Center 2021 Conference
• 作者: Omojola, Joses;Persaud, Patricia;Catchings, Rufus;Goldman, Mark
• 通讯作者: Goldman, Mark

FLUID - Role of FLuids in Underground Salt Cavern and Wastewater Injection Site Deformation

流体 - 流体在地下盐穴和废水注入场变形中的作用

• DOI: 10.7914/veby-8q46
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: International Federation of Digital Seismograph Networks
• 作者: Persaud, Patricia

Monitoring Subsurface Changes in Salt Dome Caverns using Fine-scale Microseismicity Variations

利用精细尺度微震活动变化监测盐丘洞穴的地下变化

• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting
• 作者: Omojola, Joses;Persaud, Patricia;Catchings, Rufus;Goldman, Mark
• 通讯作者: Goldman, Mark