Project-A2

Baseline Characterisation of Seismicity

Baseline characterisation of seismicity is required to enable potential impacts to be assessed. The research covered by this project includes:

• A review of records of natural seismicity in the island of Ireland. An assessment of the nature and magnitude of induced seismicity associated with hydraulic fracturing operations worldwide.
• Review of seismic risk control regimes operated worldwide for UGEE projects/operations and make recommendations for systems applicable to the island of Ireland, with particular reference to the case study areas.
• Assessment of the capability of existing seismic monitoring network(s) to allow detection and three-dimensional location of seismic events down to target magnitude threshold. Recommendations for future development of the seismic monitoring network.
• Assessment of micro-seismic monitoring methodologies to enable real-time monitoring of fracture growth during, and immediately after, UGEE projects/operations in order to minimise risks from induced seismicity associated with hydraulic fracturing. This assessment will aim to review how the existing seismic network(s) can be integrated with any likely additional networks that would be required for this type of activity, what resources are required to analyse these existing data, and what regions/sub-regional monitoring locations would be required for the specific case study areas.
• Linking with Project B - Assessment of the success of pre-fracturing modelling techniques to predict the propagation (number and height) of fractures in the target horizon in order to predict induced seismicity and to predict the risk of fractures creating preferential pathways for pollutants.