Abstract
This work summarizes our recent findings on hydraulic fracturing-induced seismicity nucleated in the Duvernay shale reservoirs within the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. A coupled model of in-situ stress and fracture-fault systems was built to quantify four-dimensional stress and pressure changes and spatiotemporal seismicity nucleation during hydraulic fracturing. Five triggering mechanisms were successfully recognized in seismicity-frequent areas, including a direct hydraulic connection between impermeable faults and hydraulic fractures, fault slip owing to downward pressure diffusion, fault reactivation due to upward poroelastic stress perturbation, aftershocks of mainshock events, and reactivation of natural fractures surrounding the faults. This work shed light on how fracturing operations triggered the induced seismicity, providing a solid foundation for the investigation of controlling factors and mitigation strategies for hydraulic fracturing-induced seismicity.
