Analysis of cause and mechanism for injection-induced seismicityat the Geysers Geothermal Field, California

We analyzed relative contributions to the cause andmechanism of injection-induced seismicity at The Geysers geothermalfield, California, using coupled thermal-hydrological-mechanicalmodeling. Our analysis shows that the most important cause forinjection-induced seismicity is injection-induced cooling and associatedthermal-elastic shrinkage that changes the stress state in such a waythat mechanical failure and seismicity can be induced. Specifically, thecooling shrinkage results in unloading and associated loss of shearstrength in critically shear-stressed fractures, which are thenreactivated. Thus, our analysis shows that cooling-induced shear slipalong fractures is the dominant mechanism of injection-induced seismicityat The Geysers