Fault roughness controls injection-induced seismicity.

Surface roughness ubiquitously prevails in natural faults across various length scales. Despite extensive studies highlighting the important role of fault geometry in the dynamics of tectonic earthquakes, whether and how fault roughness affects fluid-induced seismicity remains elusive. Here, we investigate the effects of fault geometry and stress heterogeneity on fluid-induced fault slip and associated seismicity characteristics using laboratory experiments and numerical modeling. We perform fluid injection experiments on quartz-rich sandstone samples containing either a smooth or a rough fault. We find that geometrical roughness slows down injection-induced fault slip and reduces macroscopic slip velocities and fault slip-weakening rates. Stress heterogeneity and roughness control hypocenter distribution, frequency-magnitude characteristics, and source mechanisms of injection-induced acoustic emissions (AEs) (analogous to natural seismicity). In contrast to smooth faults where injection-induced AEs are uniformly distributed, slip on rough faults produces spatially localized AEs with pronounced non-double-couple source mechanisms. We demonstrate that these clustered AEs occur around highly stressed asperities where induced local slip rates are higher, accompanied by lower Gutenberg-Richter b-values. Our findings suggest that real-time monitoring of induced microseismicity during fluid injection may allow identifying progressive localization of seismic activity and improve forecasting of runaway events.

Earthquake Nucleation Size: Evidence of Loading Rate Dependence in Laboratory Faults.

Recent Global Positioning System observations of major earthquakes such as the 2014 Chile megathrust show a slow preslip phase releasing a significant portion of the total moment (Ruiz et al., 2014, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1256074). Despite advances from theoretical stability analysis (Rubin & Ampuero, 2005, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JB003686; Ruina, 1983, https://doi.org/10.1029/jb088ib12p10359) and modeling (Kaneko et al., 2017, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL071569), it is not fully understood what controls the prevalence and the amount of slip in the nucleation process. Here we present laboratory observations of slow slip preceding dynamic rupture, where we observe a dependence of nucleation size and position on the loading rate (laboratory equivalent of tectonic loading rate). The setup is composed of two polycarbonate plates under direct shear with a 30-cm long slip interface. The results of our laboratory experiments are in agreement with the preslip model outlined by Ellsworth and Beroza (1995, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.268.5212.851) and observed in laboratory experiments (Latour et al., 2013, https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50974; Nielsen et al., 2010, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246x.2009.04444.x; Ohnaka & Kuwahara, 1990, https://doi.org/10.1016/0040-1951(90)90138-X), which show a slow slip followed by an acceleration up to dynamic rupture velocity. However, further complexity arises from the effect of (1) rate of shear loading and (2) inhomogeneities on the fault surface. In particular, we show that when the loading rate is increased from 10-2 to 6 MPa/s, the nucleation length can shrink by a factor of 3, and the rupture nucleates consistently on higher shear stress areas. The nucleation lengths measured fall within the range of the theoretical limits L b and L ∞ derived by Rubin and Ampuero (2005, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JB003686) for rate-and-state friction laws.