Slip Characteristics of Induced Earthquakes: Insights From the 2015 Mw 4.0 Guthrie, Oklahoma Earthquake

Abstract

AbstractTo better quantify how injection, prior seismicity, and fault properties control rupture growth and propagation of induced earthquakes, we perform a finite‐fault slip inversion on a Mw 4.0 earthquake that occurred in April 2015, the largest earthquake in an induced sequence near Guthrie, Oklahoma. The slip inversion reveals a rupture with slip patches that are anti‐correlated to the locations of prior seismicity. The prior seismicity driven by low pore pressure changes and static stress changes occurred on weaker portions of the fault, while the Mw 4.0 earthquake likely ruptured relatively stronger portions of the fault. To resolve if pore pressure changes or the initial underlying stress distribution and fault strength controlled the final slip distribution of the Guthrie Mw 4.0 earthquake, we compare strike‐slip events of similar magnitude from tectonically active regions and previously inactive regions. Earthquakes on reactivated faults exhibit different slip distributions than active regions, they have more prominent and well separated slip patches, a behavior often associated with faults of lower fault maturity. Pore pressure shows little effect on the distributions. These observations suggest that the initial underlying stress distribution and fault strength of reactivated faults in low deformation regions is the primary controlling factor of the slip distribution with pore pressure perturbations and earthquake interactions being secondary. Therefore, Guthrie Mw 4.0 earthquakes slip distribution was enhanced by pore‐pressure perturbations and earthquake interactions by creating an optimal stress state for its failure, but the slip distribution itself is controlled by its fault's initial stress and strength state.