INITIAL MICROSEISMIC RECORDINGS AT THE ONSET OF UNCONVENTIONAL HYDROCARBON DEVELOPMENT IN THE ROME TROUGH, EASTERN KENTUCKY

• Main Author: Holcomb, Andrew
• Format: Others
• Published: UKnowledge 2017
• Subjects: induced seismicity; detection threshold; Rome Trough; EKMMP; microseismicity; Geology; Geophysics and Seismology
• Online Access: http://uknowledge.uky.edu/ees_etds/51; http://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1061&context=ees_etds

The Cambrian Rogersville Shale is a part of a hydrocarbon system in the Rome Trough of eastern Kentucky and West Virginia that can only be produced unconventionally. In Kentucky, the Rogersville Shale ranges in depth from ~1,800 to ~3,700 m below the surface with the crystalline basement ~1,000 m lower than the formation’s base. Baseline Rome Trough microseismicity data were collected, focusing on wastewater injection wells and recently completed and planned unconventional hydrocarbon test wells in the Rogersville Shale, using thirteen broadband seismic stations installed between June, 2015 and June, 2016 and existing University of Kentucky and central and eastern United States network stations. In addition, the network’s minimum detection threshold, the magnitude at which the theoretical signal exceeds the noise by a factor of 3 between 1 and 20 Hz for at least 4 stations, was estimated for the project area. Thirty-eight local and regional events were located and magnitudes were calculated for each event. No events were proximal to operating disposal or hydrocarbon test wells, nor did any occur in the eastern Kentucky’s Rome Trough. The minimum detection threshold varies between 0.4 and 0.7 Mw from 0000-1100 UTC and 0.6 to 0.9 Mw from 1100-2300 UTC.