A classification of induced seismicity

In order to adopt the best safety procedures, man-made earthquakes should be differentiated as a function of their origin. At least four different types of settings can be recognized in which anthropogenic activities may generate seismicity: (I) fluid removal from a stratigraphic reservoir in the underground can trigger the compaction of the voids and the collapse of the overlying volume, i.e., graviquakes; the deeper the reservoir, the bigger the volume and the earthquake magnitude; (II) wastewater or gas reinjection provides the reduction of friction in volumes and along fault planes, allowing creep or sudden activation of tectonic discontinuities, i.e., reinjection quakes; (III) fluid injection at supra-lithostatic pressure generates hydrofracturing and micro-seismicity, i.e., hydrofracturing quakes; (IV) fluid extraction or fluid injection, filling or unfilling of artificial lakes modifies the lithostatic load, which is the maximum principal stress in extensional tectonic settings, the minimum principal stress in contractional tectonic settings, and the intermediate principal stress in strike-slip settings, i.e., load quakes; over given pressure values, the increase of the lithostatic load may favour the activation of normal faults, whereas its decrease may favour thrust faults. For example, the filling of an artificial lake may generate normal fault-related seismicity. Therefore, each setting has its peculiarities and the knowledge of the different mechanisms may contribute to the adoption of the appropriate precautions in the various industrial activities.     

Reservoir lifetime and heat recovery factor in geothermal aquifers used for urban heating

Simple models are discussed to evaluate reservoir lifetime and heat recovery factor in geothermal aquifers used for urban heating. By comparing various single well and doublet production schemes, it is shown that reinjection of heat depleted water greatly enhances heat recovery and reservoir lifetime, and can be optimized for maximum heat production. It is concluded that geothermal aquifer production should be unitized, as is already done in oil and gas reservoirs.Nomenclature a distance between doublets in multi-doublet patterns, meters - A area of aquifer at base temperature, m² drainage area of individual doublets in multidoublet patterns, m² - D distance between doublet wells, meters - h aquifer thickness, meters - H water head, meters - Q production rate, m³/sec. - r _e aquifer radius, meters - r _w well radius, meters - R _g heat recovery factor, fraction - S water level drawdown, meters - t producing time, sec. - T aquifer transmissivity, m²/sec. - v stream-channel water velocity, m/sec. - actual temperature change, °C - theoretical temperature change, °C - water temperature, °C - heat conductivity, W/m/°C - _r rock heat conductivity, W/m/°C - _aC_a aquifer heat capacity, J/m³/°C - _aC_r rock heat capacity, J/m³/°C - _WC_W water heat capacity, J/m³/°C - aquifer porosity, fraction     

Clogging mechanism in the process of reinjection of used geothermal water: A simulation research on Xianyang No.2 reinjection well in a super-deep and porous geothermal reservoir

In the process of geothermal exploitation and utilization, the reinjection amount of used geothermal water in super-deep and porous reservoir is small and significantly decreases over time. This has been a worldwide problem, which greatly restricts the exploitation and utilization of geothermal resources. Based on a large amount of experiments and researches, the reinjection research on the tail water of Xianyang No. 2 well, which is carried out by combining the application of hydrogeochemical simulation, clogging mechanism research and the reinjection experiment, has achieved breakthrough results. The clogging mechanism and indoor simulation experiment results show: Factors affecting the tail water reinjection of Xianyang No. 2 well mainly include chemical clogging, suspended solids clogging, gas clogging, microbial clogging and composite clogging, yet the effect of particle migration on clogging has not been found; in the process of reinjection, chemical clogging was mainly caused by carbonates (mainly calcite), silicates (mainly chalcedony), and a small amount of iron minerals, and the clogging aggravated when the temperature rose; suspended solids clogging also aggravated when the temperature rose, which showed that particles formed by chemical reaction had a certain proportion in suspended solids.     

Study on the geothermal production and reinjection mode in Xiong County

The large karst geothermal field of Xiong County,which is located to the south of geothermal field in Niutuozhen,features huge geothermal resources and favorable condition for development and utilization.Because of the long-term extensive production,the pressure of geothermal reservoir continues to decline and some geothermal wells even face the danger of scrapping.To relieve the fall in pressure of geothermal reservoir and achieve the sustainable development and utilization of geothermal field in the long run,reinjection experiment is conducted in the geothermal field of Xiong County and a three-dimensional hydrothermal coupled numerical model was constructed.The reinjection experiment showed that the mode of one production well and one reinjection well can be achieved in this geothermal field.The numerical simulation is used to forecast and compare the change in pressure field and temperature field under different production and reinjection modes and concludes that the most opotimized production and utilization mode is the concentrated production-reinjection mode,and the most opotimized production-reinjection combination mode is the shallow production and shallow reinjection mode which can ensure the sustainable development and utilization of geothermal resources in the long run.