Meeting the global challenge of reducing greenhouse gases requires safe and effective CO2 sequestration. A critical component of CO2 sequestration, and its containment, is timely monitoring structural changes that result from stresses introduced by CO2 injection to prevent or mitigate failures. Established monitoring strategies utilize detailed controlled source 3D seismic surveys to image small-scale structures around injection sites. However, a drawback of this approach is its need for signals produced by man-made seismic sources, such that subsurface structures are only periodically captured when sources are generated. The temporal development of structural changes and a broader geologic context surrounding the injection sites are often left unresolved. An alternative to controlled source seismic surveys is passive seismic (PS) imaging, which utilizes signals from earthquakes or other cultural or industrial sources. PS imaging is ideally suited for continuous monitoring, as demonstrated by its successes understanding induced earthquakes near dams (e.g., Brazeau River, Alberta) and wastewater (near Rocky Mountain House, Alberta) or hydraulic fracturing (Fox Creek, Alberta) operations. PS imaging has also successfully monitored CO2 injection sites (e.g., near Weyburn, Saskatchewan), but its scope (and application) in Alberta remains in its infancy. The collaborative project outlined here will overcome this limitation and aims to answer the Big Question: How can passive seismic imaging techniques be used to monitor temporal variations in structures at CO2 sequestration sites? Expected outcomes from this study address the Grand Challenge #6 of capturing CO2, within GRI Theme #3 of CO2 conversion. And UA Theme #2 of Future energy systems related to carbon capture, utilization and storage.
3D and 5D Multichannel Singular Spectrum Analysis (MSSA) and the reconstruction of P receiver functions
Conference/Workshop
Crustal seismic attenuation of western Canada from Lg Q inversions
Conference/Workshop
Recovery of the upper crustal structures from forward modeling and inversions of receiver functions
Conference/Workshop
CSEG award for Jingchuan Wang
Award
Faculty of Science Thesis Award for Yunfeng Chen
Award
A Comprehensive Earthquake Catalogue for Southwestern Alberta, Canada, Between 2004 and 2015
Government Publication
A new appraisal of lithospheric structures of the Cordillera-craton boundary region in western Canada
Scholarly Refereed Journal
Attenuation tomography of the Alberta basin
Scholarly Refereed Journal
Crustal radial anisotropy in southwestern Canada
Scholarly Refereed Journal
Lithospheric structure imaging of Alberta from regional broadband seismic network
PhD Thesis
Non-double-couple components for induced earthquakes
Scholarly Refereed Journal
Paleomagnetism of the Guanyang Devonian sedimentary successions in Guangxi province, South China: A non-dipole or true polar wonder scenario?
Scholarly Refereed Journal
Precambrian tectonic discontinuities in western Laurentia: Broadband seismological perspectives on the Snowbird and Great Falls tectonic zones
Scholarly Refereed Journal
Reconciling seismic structures and Late Cretaceous kimberlite magmatism in northern Alberta, Canada
Scholarly Refereed Journal
Seismic evidence for a mantle suture and implications for the origin of the Canadian Cordillera
Scholarly Refereed Journal
Shear Velocity and Radial Anisotropy beneath Southwestern Canada: Evidence for Crustal Extension and Thick‐Skinned Tectonics
Scholarly Refereed Journal
Shear wave splitting discloses two episodes of collision-related convergence in western North America
Scholarly Refereed Journal
Source Analysis of Induced Earthquakes in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin
PhD Thesis
Spatiotemporal variations in crustal seismic anisotropy surrounding induced earthquakes near Fox Creek, Alberta
Scholarly Refereed Journal