Passive Seismic Monitoring of a Flow Test in the Salton Sea Geothermal Field

Abstract

The purpose of this seismic monitoring project was to characterize in detail the microseismic activity related to the flow injection test in the Salton Sea Geothermal Field. Our goal was to determine if any sources of seismic energy related to the test were observable at the surface, using both conventional seismic network techniques and relatively newer array techniques. These method allowed us to detect and located both impulsive microearthquakes and continuous sources of seismic energy. Our network, which was sensitive enough to be triggered by magnitude 0.0 or larger events, found no impulsive microearthquakes in the vicinity of the flow test in the 8 month period before the test and only one event during the flow test. We have observed some continuous seismic noise sources that may have been caused by fluid flow at depth, but the amplitudes of these sources were not large enough to be unambiguously distinguished from surface sources.