Geothermal resources are a promising approach to clean renewable energy;90%of them are deep reservoirs of hot dry rock that require hydraulic fracturing to create a network of connections among wells to enable efficie...Geothermal resources are a promising approach to clean renewable energy;90%of them are deep reservoirs of hot dry rock that require hydraulic fracturing to create a network of connections among wells to enable efficient heat exchange,known as an Enhanced Geothermal System(EGS).The Pohang EGS project in south Korea led to a devasting Mw5.5 earthquake,triggered by the reservoir's EGS stimulation,the largest earthquake known to have been induced by EGS development.Detailed investigations have been conducted to understand the cause of the Pohang earthquake;the conclusion has been that overpressurized injected fluids migrated into an unknown fault triggering this large earthquake.Detailed velocity images for the source zone of the 2017 Pohang earthquake,which could be helpful for further understanding its inducing mechanism,are unavailable.However,we have assembled detailed aftershock data recorded by 41 local stations installed within about three months after the Mw5.5 Pohang earthquake,and have then applied the V_(p)/V_(s)model's consistency-constrained double-difference seismic tomography method to determine the high-resolution three-dimensional Vp(compressional wave velocity),Vs(shear wave velocity),and V_(p)/V_(s)models of the source region that we report here,as well as earthquake locations within the source region.The velocity images reveal that the deep source area of the 2017 Pohang earthquake is dominated by low Vp,high Vs,and low V_(p)/V_(s)anomalies,a pattern that can be caused by overpressurized vapors due to high temperatures at these depths.Based on aftershock locations and velocity features,our studies support the conclusion that the 2017Pohang earthquake was triggered by injected EGS fluids that migrated into a blind fault.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(42304056)the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province(D2023305007)+1 种基金supported by the Basic Research Project(GP2020-017,GP2020027)of the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources(KIGAM)funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT of Korea。
文摘Geothermal resources are a promising approach to clean renewable energy;90%of them are deep reservoirs of hot dry rock that require hydraulic fracturing to create a network of connections among wells to enable efficient heat exchange,known as an Enhanced Geothermal System(EGS).The Pohang EGS project in south Korea led to a devasting Mw5.5 earthquake,triggered by the reservoir's EGS stimulation,the largest earthquake known to have been induced by EGS development.Detailed investigations have been conducted to understand the cause of the Pohang earthquake;the conclusion has been that overpressurized injected fluids migrated into an unknown fault triggering this large earthquake.Detailed velocity images for the source zone of the 2017 Pohang earthquake,which could be helpful for further understanding its inducing mechanism,are unavailable.However,we have assembled detailed aftershock data recorded by 41 local stations installed within about three months after the Mw5.5 Pohang earthquake,and have then applied the V_(p)/V_(s)model's consistency-constrained double-difference seismic tomography method to determine the high-resolution three-dimensional Vp(compressional wave velocity),Vs(shear wave velocity),and V_(p)/V_(s)models of the source region that we report here,as well as earthquake locations within the source region.The velocity images reveal that the deep source area of the 2017 Pohang earthquake is dominated by low Vp,high Vs,and low V_(p)/V_(s)anomalies,a pattern that can be caused by overpressurized vapors due to high temperatures at these depths.Based on aftershock locations and velocity features,our studies support the conclusion that the 2017Pohang earthquake was triggered by injected EGS fluids that migrated into a blind fault.
