Stress Features Inferred From Induced Earthquakes in the Weiyuan Shale Gas Block in Southwestern China

Abstract

AbstractStress features, particularly local stress field and earthquake stress drops, are important to understand mechanism of induced earthquakes. Since shale gas exploitations in 2015, the Weiyuan shale gas block has experienced frequent earthquakes. In this paper, we determine focal mechanisms of 257 events with ML > 1.5 by fitting three‐component waveforms, invert for direction of maximum horizontal stress for two dense earthquake clusters, and then calculate stress drops for 17 earthquakes with moment magnitudes between 2.2 and 2.75 through the spectral ratio method. The focal mechanisms of all earthquakes are reverse faulting. The orientation of local maximum horizontal compressive stress is in the ESE direction, consistent with crustal movement indicated by GPS measurements. Both the focal mechanisms and microseismicity locations suggest the existence of steeply dipping faults with dip angles of ∼70°, which are relatively rare and difficult to slip under usual conditions, unlike major induced earthquakes with strike‐slip or low‐angle thrusting faults in the midwestern United States and western Canada. However, the steeply dipping reverse events can be induced by large pore pressure from hydraulic fracturing. The stress drops range from 2.5 to 54.7 MPa, comparable to those of potentially induced earthquakes in the midwestern United States. Our results imply earthquakes in the Weiyuan area are controlled by local tectonic stress and induced by large pore pressure from hydraulic fracturing, which advances our knowledge of reactivation of steeply dipping reverse faults.