Book Description

During the last several years Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have been working with industry partners at The Geysers geothermal field to evaluate and develop methods for applying the results of microearthquake (MEQ) monitoring. It is a well know fact that seismicity at The Geysers is a common occurrence, however, there have been many studies and papers written on the origin and significance of the seismicity. The attitude toward MEQ data ranges from being nothing more than an curious artifact of the production activities, to being a critical tool in evaluating the reservoir performance. The purpose of the work undertaken b y LBL and LLNL is to evaluate the utility, as well as the methods and procedures used in of MEQ monitoring, recommend the most cost effective implementation of the methods, and if possible link physical processes and parameters to the generation of MEQ activity. To address the objectives above the MEQ work can be categorized into two types of studies. The first type is the direct analysis of the spatial and temporal distribution of MEQ activity and studying the nature of the source function relative to the physical or chemical processes causing the seismicity. The second broad area of study is imaging the reservoir/geothermal areas with the energy created by the MEQ activity and inferring the physical and/or chemical properties within the zone of imaging. The two types of studies have obvious overlap, and for a complete evaluation and development require high quality data from arrays of multicomponent stations. Much of the effort to date at The Geysers by both DOE and the producers has concentrated establishing a high quality data base. It is only within the last several years that this data base is being fully evaluated for the proper and cost effective use of MEQ activity. Presented here are the results to date of DOE's effort in the acquisition and analysis of the MEQ data.