dc.contributor.author	Konzen, Graydon Leo	en
dc.contributor.committeechair	Pollyea, Ryan M.	en
dc.contributor.committeemember	Chapman, Martin C.	en
dc.contributor.committeemember	Chermak, John Alan	en
dc.contributor.department	Geosciences	en
dc.date.accessioned	2020-06-25T08:02:18Z	en
dc.date.available	2020-06-25T08:02:18Z	en
dc.date.issued	2020-06-24	en
dc.description.abstract	Over the last decade, an increase in earthquake occurrence in Oklahoma and Kansas has been linked to oilfield wastewater injection disposal, particularly into the regionally underpressured Arbuckle Group. The Arbuckle is hydraulically connected to Precambrian basement through an extensive fracture system, which transmits pressure perturbations from wastewater injections to seismogenic depths. Previous studies have convincingly attributed induced seismicity to pore pressure diffusion and solid elastic stressing, both resulting from fluid waste injection. Recent work adds to the physical understanding of injection-induced seismicity by demonstrating that the density differential between injection fluids and formation brines may also drive fluid pressure into the seismogenic basement. In this thesis, variable density groundwater flow is modeled in a numerical simulation comprising parts of the Anadarko Basin, the Anadarko Shelf, the Cherokee Platform, and the Nemaha Fault Zone as well as injection data from 2006-2018. Results show buoyancy forces interacting with regional stratigraphic dip to force density-driven pressure transients into the deep Anadarko Basin, aligning with previously unexplained earthquakes in that region.	en
dc.description.abstractgeneral	Increased earthquake activity in Oklahoma and Kansas over the last decade is linked waste disposal related to hydrofracking. Oil and gas produced in the fracking process is often mixed with large amounts of water that is too salty to be used for public or industrial purposes, thus this water is disposed of via injection into deep rock layers in the upper portion of the Earth's interior, or crust. This injection disturbs the crust to trigger earthquakes where none have been historically observed. Previous studies examining this phenomenon assume that the rock layers of the crust lie flat and level; simplify the nature of major faults, or cracks, in the crust; and do not consider differences in water chemistry between injected water and water that already occupies the crust. The study developed in this thesis considers the effect of these three factors with regard to how they influence the extent of the linkage between waste water injection and earthquakes in Oklahoma and Kansas.	en
dc.description.degree	Master of Science	en
dc.format.medium	ETD	en
dc.identifier.other	vt_gsexam:26043	en
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10919/99107	en
dc.publisher	Virginia Tech	en
dc.rights	In Copyright	en
dc.rights.uri	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/	en
dc.subject	Hydrogeology	en
dc.subject	Numerical Groundwater Modeling	en
dc.subject	Induced Seismicity	en
dc.subject	Geographic Information Systems	en
dc.title	Regional-Scale Impacts of Fluid Composition and Geologic Structure for Injection-Induced Seismicity in the Southern U.S. Midcontinent	en
dc.type	Thesis	en
thesis.degree.discipline	Geosciences	en
thesis.degree.grantor	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	en
thesis.degree.level	masters	en
thesis.degree.name	Master of Science	en

Regional-Scale Impacts of Fluid Composition and Geologic Structure for Injection-Induced Seismicity in the Southern U.S. Midcontinent

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