eprintid: 1758 rev_number: 18 eprint_status: archive userid: 6 dir: disk0/00/00/17/58 datestamp: 2016-09-15 13:16:04 lastmod: 2017-09-19 07:09:25 status_changed: 2016-09-15 13:16:04 type: article metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Weingarten, M. creators_name: Ge, Shemin creators_name: Godt, Jonathan W. creators_name: Bekins, B. A. creators_name: Rubinstein, Justin L. title: High-rate injection is associated with the increase in U.S. mid-continent seismicity subjects: MP2 subjects: MP4 subjects: RU subjects: RU6 subjects: SHC subjects: SHU divisions: IP14 divisions: SHEER-8 full_text_status: none abstract: An unprecedented increase in earthquakes in the U.S. mid-continent began in 2009. Many of these earthquakes have been documented as induced by wastewater injection. We examine the relationship between wastewater injection and U.S. mid-continent seismicity using a newly assembled injection well database for the central and eastern United States. We find that the entire increase in earthquake rate is associated with fluid injection wells. High-rate injection wells (>300,000 barrels per month) are much more likely to be associated with earthquakes than lower-rate wells. At the scale of our study, a well’s cumulative injected volume, monthly wellhead pressure, depth, and proximity to crystalline basement do not strongly correlate with earthquake association. Managing injection rates may be a useful tool to minimize the likelihood of induced earthquakes. date: 2015 date_type: published publication: Science volume: 348 number: 6241 publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science pagerange: 1336-1340 id_number: doi:10.1126/science.aab1345 issn: 0036-8075 official_url: http://doi.org/10.1126/science.aab1345 access_IS-EPOS: limited owner: Publisher citation: Weingarten, M. and Ge, Shemin and Godt, Jonathan W. and Bekins, B. A. and Rubinstein, Justin L. (2015) High-rate injection is associated with the increase in U.S. mid-continent seismicity. Science, 348 (6241). pp. 1336-1340. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aab1345