Oilfield technologies for earthquake science

Oilfield Review

Volumn 18, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 24-33

  Coates, Richard ^a   Haldorsen, Jakob B U ^a   Miller, Douglas ^a   Malin, Peter ^b   Shalev, Eylon ^b   Taylor, Stewart T ^b   Stolte, Christian ^a   Verliac, Michel ^a  

^a Duke University ^*

^b WESTERNGECO   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EARTHQUAKE EFFECTS; EARTHQUAKES; ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING; STRESS ANALYSIS;

ACTIVE FAULTS; EARTHQUAKE SCIENCE; ROCK PROPERTIES;

OIL FIELDS;

EID: 33750083587     PISSN: 09231730     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (28)

1. 3/2) times between whole number values. For more on earthquake magnitudes: http://www.answers.com/topic/ richtermagnitude-scale (accessed May 9, 2006).
2. The 1994 earthquake in Northridge, California, was even more costly, with estimated losses over US$ 20 billion.
3. Earthquakes occur when rocks being deformed suddenly break along a fault, setting off waves of ground vibrations. Such slippage usually occurs at plate boundaries. The theory of plate tectonics was introduced in 1968 by geologist J. Tuzo Wilson and others.
4. Achenbach J: "The Next Big One," National Geographic 209, no. 4 (April 2006): 120-147.
5. For more on EarthScope: http://www.earthscope.org (accessed April 11, 2006).
6. Lefort M: "Scientists Journey to the Center of an Earthquake," USA Today (August 16, 2005): 7D.
7. Brown D: "Earthquake Study Goes Nucleation," AAPG Explorer 26, no. 7 (July 2005): 8-10.
8. A special issue of Geophysical Research Letters contains 20 papers discussing the SAFOD site characterization research: "Preparation for the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth," Geophysical Research Letters 31, no. 12 (June 2004).
9. Brown, reference 7.
10. The initial earthquake phase between the first impulsive arriving P-wave (compressional wave) and the point where the velocity seismogram begins a sudden linear velocity increase is called the nucleation phase. Concepts of the nucleation phase and the fracturing mechanisms are not well understood or universally accepted by all researchers.
11. Hickman S, Zoback MD and Ellsworth W: "Introduction to Special Section: Preparing for the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth," Geophysical Research Letters 31, no. 12 (June 2004): L12S01.
12. Thurber C, Roecker S, Zhang H, Baher S and Ellsworth W: "Fine-Scale Structure of the San Andreas Fault Zone and the Location of SAFOD Target Earthquakes," Geophysical Research Letters 31, no. 12 (June 2004): L12S02.
13. Hole JA, Ryberg T, Fuis GS, Bleibinhaus F and Sharma AK: "Structure of the San Andreas Fault Zone at SAFOD from a Seismic Refraction Survey," Geophysical Research Letters 33, no. 7 (April 2006): L07312.
14. For more on state-of-the-art seismic technologies: Ait-Messaoud M, Boulegroun M-Z, Gribi A, Kasmi R, Touami M, Anderson B, Van Baaren P, El-Emam A, Bached G, Laake A, Pickering S, Moldoveanu N and Uzbek A: "New Dimensions in Land Seismic Technology," Oilfield Review 17, no. 3 (Autumn 2005): 42-53.
15. Unsworth M and Bedrosian PA: "Electrical Resistivity Structure at the SAFOD Site from Magnetotelluric Exploration," Geophysical Research Letters 31, no. 12 (June 2004): L12S05.
16. McPhee D, Jachens R and Wentworth C: "Crustal Structure Across the San Andreas Fault at the SAFOD Site from Potential Field and Geologic Studies," Geophysical Research Letters 31, no. 12 (June 2004): L12S03.
17. Peebler R: "Borehole Seismic Records 1,000 Earthquakes During San Andreas Fault Research," first Break 23, no. 9 (September 2005): 17.
18. Taylor S, Malin P and Haldorsen JBU: "Shear-Wave Anisotropy Observed in VSP Data at the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth," paper ANI 3.6, Expanded Abstracts, 75th Society of Exploration Geophysicists Annual Meeting, Houston (November 6-11, 2005): 174-177.
19. For more on Drill-Bit Seismic technology: Meehan R, Miller D, Haldorsen J, Kamata M and Underbill B: "Rekindling Interest in Seismic While Drilling," Oilfield Reviews, no. 1 (January 1993): 4-13.
20. Borland W, Codazzi D, Hsu K, Rasmus J, Einchcomb C, Hashem M, Hewett V, Jackson M, Meeham R and Tweedy M: "Real-Time Answers to Well Drilling and Design Questions," Oilfield Reviews, no. 2 (Summer 1997): 2-15.
21. Taylor S, Malin P, Shalev E, Haldorsen JBU and Coates R: "Drill Bit Seismic Imaging of the San Andreas Faults System at SAFOD," paper VSP 2.1 Expanded Abstracts, 75th Society of Exploration Geopbysicists Annual Meeting, Houston (November 6-11, 2005): 2657-2660.
22. Catchings RD, Rymer MJ, Goldman MR, Hole JA, Muggins R and Lippus C: "High-Resolution Seismic Velocities and Shallow Structure of the San Andreas Fault Zone at Middle Mountain, Parkfield, California," Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 92, no. 6 (August 2002): 2493-2503.
23. Boness NL and Zoback MD: "Stress-Induced Seismic Velocity Anisotropy and Physical Properties in the SAFOD Pilot Hole in Parkfield, CA.," Geophysics Research Letters 31, no. 15 (July 2004): L15S17.
24. Boness NL and Zoback MD: "A Multi-Scale Study of the Mechanisms Controlling Shear Velocity Anisotropy in the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth," to be published in Geophysics (2006).
25. Boness and Zoback, reference 19. For more on borehole breakouts: All AHA, Brown T, Delgado R, Lee D, Plumb R, Smirnov N, Marsden R, Prado-Velarde E, Ramsey L, Spooner D, Stone T and StoufferT: "Watching Rocks Change-Mechanical Earth Modeling," Oilfield Review 15, no. 2 (Summer 2003) 22-39.
26. Malin P, Shalev E, Balven H and Lewis-Kenedi C: "Structure of the San Andreas Fault at SAFOD from P-Wave Tomography and Fault-Guided Wave Mapping," Geophysical Research Letters 33, no. 13 (July 2006): L13314.
27. Li Y-G, Vidale JE and Cochran ES: "Low-Velocity Damaged Structure of the San Andreas Faultat Parkfield from Fault Zone Trapped Waves," Geophysical Research Letters 31, no. 12 (June 2004): L12S06.
28. The gradual accumulation and release of stress and strain is now referred to as the "elastic rebound theory" of earthquakes developed by Henry Fielding Reid, Professor of Geology at The Johns Hopkins University, who concluded that earthquakes involve an "elastic rebound" of previously stored elastic stress. For more on Reid's elastic rebound theory: http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/info/1906/reid.html (accessed May 3, 2006).