Fault location and geometry are critical considerations in the reactivation of preexisting faults. Here, we combine relocated earthquake catalogs and focal mechanisms to delineate seismogenic faults in Oklahoma and southern Kansas and analyze their stress state. We first identify and map seismogenic faults based on earthquake clustering. We then obtain an improved stress map using 2,047 high‐quality focal mechanisms. The regional stress map shows a gradual transition from oblique normal faulting in western Oklahoma to strike‐slip faulting in central and eastern Oklahoma. Stress amplitude ratio shows a strong correlation with pore pressure from hydrogeologic models, suggesting that pore pressure exhibits a measurable influence on stress patterns. Finally, we assess fault stress state via 3‐D Mohr circles; a parameter understress is used to quantify the level of fault criticality (with 0 meaning critically stressed faults and 1 meaning faults with no applied shear stress). Our results indicate that most active faults have near vertical planes (planarity >0.8 and dip >70°), and there is a strong correlation between fault length and maximum magnitude on each fault. The fault trends show prominent conjugate sets that strike [55–75°] and [105–125°]. A comparison with mapped sedimentary faults and basement fractures reveals common tectonic control. Based on 3‐D Mohr circles, we find that 78% of the faults are critically stressed (understress ≤0.2), while several seismogenic faults are misoriented with high understress (>0.4). Fault geometry and local stress fields may be used to evaluate potential seismic hazard, as the largest earthquakes tend to occur on long, critically stressed faults.

We explore the role of Coulomb stress transfer in the fault reactivation in Woodward, Oklahoma-a wastewater injection area. We address this issue by first defining fault segments from earthquake spatiotemporal clustering then parameterizing the geometries of each segment by combining seismicity and focal mechanisms. Finally, we calculate Coulomb stress transfer along each fault segment. Our results reveal a fault system characterized by a flower structure with strike-slip fault at deeper depth and distributed normal faults at shallower depth. Further, Coulomb stress analysis reveals that the fault reactivation initiates at the fault bend and sequentially migrates to northeast and southwest due to interevent stress interaction. The amplitude of Coulomb stress transfer is at least comparable to pore pressure and poroelastic stress changes estimated from fluid injection. Overall, our observations suggest that fault structure and Coulomb stress transfer constitute important factors in seismogenic fault reactivation within areas of wastewater injection. Plain Language SummaryThe earthquakes in wastewater injection areas have been mainly linked to fluid injection, which increases the pore pressure or poroelastic stress and promotes fault failure. Only limited studies have explored another possible driving mechanism-stress interactions between the earthquakes during the fault reactivation in those areas. In this study, we focus on an isolated earthquake cluster in the northwest Oklahoma, a wastewater injection area, and study how earthquake interactions influence the step-by-step reactivation of the fault system. The calculated stress interactions from small earthquakes on the fault planes are larger than the pore pressure change and at least comparable to the poroelastic stress change from fluid injection. Our results suggest that the fluid injection is not the only driving mechanism of seismicity in wastewater injection areas, and earthquake interactions should also be considered for mitigating induced seismicity.

Geothermal areas are long recognized to be susceptible to remote earthquake triggering, probably due to the high seismicity rates and presence of geothermal fluids. However, anthropogenic injection and extraction activity may alter the stress state and fluid flow within the geothermal fields. Here we examine the remote triggering phenomena in the Coso geothermal field and its surrounding areas to assess possible anthropogenic effects. We find that triggered earthquakes are absent within the geothermal field but occur in the surrounding areas. Similar observation is also found in the Salton Sea geothermal field. We hypothesize that continuous geothermal operation has eliminated any significant differential pore pressure between fractures inside the geothermal field through flushing geothermal precipitations and sediments out of clogged fractures. To test this hypothesis, we analyze the pore‐pressure‐driven earthquake swarms, and they are found to occur outside or on the periphery of the geothermal production field. Therefore, our results suggest that the geothermal operation has changed the subsurface fracture network, and differential pore pressure is the primary controlling factor of remote triggering in geothermal fields.

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<p>In the last decade, Oklahoma has experienced significant changes in earthquake activities: earthquake rate dramatically increased since 2009, with a peak rate exceeding California, which has gradually decreased in recent years. This “accidental” large scale earthquake experiment provides us with rich datasets to further understand earthquake physics. Here, focusing on analyses of seismicity and accounting for the physics of earthquake nucleation, we link several studies to give a brief overview of Oklahoma earthquakes, and their implications for future studies in induced seismicity.  First, the analysis of spatiotemporal patterns of seismicity rate can help us infer the subsurface hydraulic parameters at both regional and local scales. At the regional level, the hydraulic diffusivities differ between Eastern and Western Oklahoma, separated by the Nemaha Fault, reflecting hydraulic properties of the Arbuckle Group (injection layer). At local scales within individual faults, the analysis suggested similar hydraulic diffusivities to crustal earthquake bursts from other tectonic regions, implying common properties of the crystalline basement.  Second, coupled poroelastic responses to injection on individual faults are essential, and produce seismicity rate forecast that more closely resemble observations. However, local stress tensor variations can significantly influence fault “criticality” and should be taken into account for modeling stress interactions. Third, in addition to injection-related stress changes, earthquake interactions and aseismic slip need to be considered in induced earthquake sequences, and detailed source modeling and statistical analysis are required to understand their roles in the evolutions of individual sequences further. Finally, Oklahoma seismicity offers opportunities to test short- to intermediate-term forecasting based on different physical models, and new windows into earthquake rupture initiations.</p>