An analytical interpretation of liquid injection induced microseismicity in porous reservoirs

The paper presents a rigorously derived analytical method to describe and interpret the low-magnitude earthquakes caused by injection of the borehole fluids into surrounding porous reservoirs. Microseismicity is induced due to changes in the pore pressure, which, in turn, is influenced mainly by the low-frequency slow Biot (P2) wave. The classical Biot model is used to obtain the distribution of pore pressure in a reservoir. The constructed solution to the Biot system of equations and the spatio-temporal cloud of microseismic events allow one to assess the critical value of the pore pressure, sufficient for the generation of a microearthquake, and the values of hydromechanical parameters (e.g. permeability) of a saturated porous rock.