Hazard Implications of the 2016 Mw 5.0 Cushing, OK Earthquake from a Joint Analysis of Damage and InSAR Data

Surface Deformation and Seismicity Linked to Fluid Injection in the Raton Basin

It is suggested that in addition to seismicity deep fluid injection may cause surface uplift and subsidence in oil and gas-producing regions. This study uses the Raton Basin as an example to investigate the hydromechanical processes of surface uplift and subsidence during wastewater injection. The Raton Basin, in southern central Colorado and northern central New Mexico, has experienced wastewater injection related to coalbed methane and gas production starting in 1994. In this study, we estimate the extent and magnitude of total vertical deformation in the Raton Basin from 1994 to 2020 and incremental deformation between the years 2017 to 2020. Results indicate a modeled uplift as much as 15 cm occurring between 1994 and 2020. Between 2017 and 2020, up to 3 cm of uplift occurred, largely near the northwestern injection wells. Most modeled uplift between 1994 and 2020 occurred near the southern wells, where the greatest cumulative volume of wastewater was injected. However, modeled subsidence occurred around the southern and eastern wells between 2017 and 2020, after the rate of injection decreased. Modeling indicates that while the magnitude of modeled uplift corresponds to cumulative injection volume and maximum rate in the long-term, short-term incremental deformation (uplift or subsidence) is controlled by changes in the rate of injection. The number of yearly earthquake events follows periods of rapid modeled uplifting throughout the Basin, suggesting that measurable surface deformation may be caused by the same injection-induced pore pressure perturbations that initiate seismicity.

A Simple Relation to Constrain Groundwater Models Using Surface Deformation

A simple relation between pore pressure change and one-dimensional surface deformation is presented. The relation is for pore pressure change in a confined aquifer that causes surface deformation. It can be applied to groundwater models of any discretization and is computationally efficient. The estimated surface deformation from model results can be compared to observed surface deformation through geodetic techniques such as Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar. Model parameters then are constrained using the observed surface deformation. The validity of this relation is shown through constraint of model parameters for surface uplift due to pore pressure increase caused by wastewater disposal injection.

Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Ground Deformation Due to 2018 Lombok Earthquake Series

Lombok Island in Indonesia was hit by four major earthquakes (6.4 Mw to 7 Mw) and by at least 818 earthquakes between 29 July and 31 August 2018. The aims of this study are to measure ground deformation due to the 2018 Lombok earthquake series and to map its spatio-temporal distribution. The application of DinSAR was performed to produce an interferogram and deformation map. Time series Sentinel-1 satellite imageries were used as master and slave for each of these four major earthquakes. The spatio-temporal distribution of the ground deformation was analyzed using a zonal statistics algorithm in GIS. It focused on the overlapping area between the raster layer of the deformation map and the polygon layer of six observation sites (Mataram City, Pamenang, Tampes, Sukadana, Sembalun, and Belanting). The results showed that the deformation includes uplift and subsidence. The first 6.4 Mw foreshock hitting on 29 July 2018 produces a minimum uplift effect on the island. The 7.0 Mw mainshock on 5 August 2018 causes extreme uplift at the northern shore. The 6.2 Mw Aftershock on 9 August 2018 generates subsidence throughout the study area. The final earthquake of 6.9 Mw on 19 August 2018 initiates massive uplift in the study area and extreme uplift at the northeastern shore. The highest uplift reaches 0.713 m at the northern shore, while the deepest subsidence is measured −0.338 m at the northwestern shore. Dominant deformation on the northern area of Lombok Island indicates movement of Back Arc Trust in the north of the island. The output of this study would be valuable to local authorities to evaluate existing earthquake’s impacts and to design mitigation strategies to face earthquake-induced ground displacement.

On the Segmentation of the Cephalonia–Lefkada Transform Fault Zone (Greece) from an InSAR Multi-Mode Dataset of the Lefkada 2015 Sequence

We use Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) to study the Cephalonia–Lefkada Transform Fault Zone (CTF) in the Ionian Sea. The CTF separates continental subduction to the north from oceanic subduction to the south, along the Hellenic Subduction Zone. We exploit a rich multi-modal radar dataset of the most recent major earthquake in the region, the 17 November 2015 Mw 6.4 event, and present new surface displacement results that offer additional constraints on the fault segmentation of the area. Based on this dataset, and by exploiting available information of earthquake relocation, we propose a new rupture process for the 2015 sequence, complementary to those published already. Our modelling includes an additional southern fault segment, oblique to the segment related with the mainshock, which indicates that the CTF structure is more complex than previously believed.