|
Photo Gallery | About Us | Terms of Use | Register/Create a Profile |
Science 26 March 1976:
Vol. 191. no. 4233, pp. 1230 - 1237
DOI: 10.1126/science.191.4233.1230
An Experiment in Earthquake Control at Rangely, Colorado
C. B. Raleigh 1, J. H. Healy 1, and J. D. Bredehoeft 2
1 Geophysicists at the National Center for Earthquake Research, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California 94025
2 Hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia 22092
An experiment in an oil field at Rangely, Colorado, has demonstrated the feasibility of earthquake control. Variations in seismicity were produced by controlled variations in the fluid pressure in a seismically active zone. Precise earthquake locations revealed that the earthquakes clustered about a fault trending through a zone of high pore pressure produced by secondary recovery operations. Laboratory measurements of the frictional properties of the reservoir rocks and an in situ stress measurement made near the earthquake zone were used to predict the fluid pressure required to trigger earthquakes on preexisting fractures. Fluid pressure was controlled by alternately injecting and recovering water from wells that penetrated the seismic zone. Fluid pressure was monitored in observation wells, and a computer model of the reservoir was used to infer the fluid pressure distributions in the vicinity of the injection wells. The results of this experiment confirm the predicted effect of fluid pressure on earthquake activity and indicate that earthquakes can be controlled wherever we can control the fluid pressure in a fault zone.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This site may at times contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml |