A database of ground motion recordings, site profiles, and amplification factors from the Groningen gas field in the Netherlands

Abstract

A comprehensive database that has been used to develop ground motion models for induced earthquakes in the Groningen gas field is provided in a freely accessible online repository. The database includes more than 8500 processed ground motion recordings from 87 earthquakes of local magnitude ML between 1.8 and 3.6, obtained from a large network of surface accelerographs and borehole geophones placed at 50 m depth intervals to a depth of 200 m. The 5%-damped pseudo-acceleration spectra and Fourier amplitude spectra of the records are also provided. Measured shear-wave velocity (VS) profiles, obtained primarily from seismic Cone Penetration Tests (CPTs), are provided for 80 of the ∼100 recording stations. A model representing the regional dynamic soil properties is presented for the entire gas field plus a 5 km onshore buffer zone, specifying lithology, VS, and damping for all layers above the reference baserock horizon located at about 800 m depth. Transfer functions and frequency-dependent amplification factors from the reference rock horizon to the surface for the locations of the recording stations are also included. The database provides a valuable resource for further refinement of induced seismic hazard and risk modeling in Groningen as well as for generic research in site response of thick, soft soil deposits and the characteristics of ground motions from small-magnitude, shallow-focus induced earthquakes.

Induced seismicity red-light thresholds for enhanced geothermal prospects in the Netherlands

“…Instead of anticipating these parameters, we use the known catalogue details for these events (perturbed about their reported errors) (NORSAR 2018). As well, we fit the only free GMPE parameter (inter-event Z-score) based on observed shaking intensities (Dost and Haak, 1997;Dost and Kraaijpoel, 2013;Ruigrok and Dost, 2020;Ntinalexis et al, 2022). All further steps in our workflow proceed as normal with a 1000-trial Monte Carlo approach.…”

“…Funding for this work came from the Stanford Center for Induced and Triggered Seismicity and the DEEP project which has been subsidized through the Cofund GEOTHERMICA by DETEC (CH), DoE (USA), MEDDE (FR), Jülich (DE), DCCAE/GSI (IRL), and RVO (NL). Geothermal gradient (Békési et al, 2020), trailing seismicity model (Schultz et al, 2022), GMPE model (Bommer et al, 2021b), site amplification (Heath et al, 2020), population density (Rose et al, 2019), nuisance function (Schultz et al, 2021a), fragility function (Korswagen et al, 2019), vulnerability function (Crowley and Pinho, 2020), earthquake catalogue (KNMI 2022), and ground motion databases (Dost and Haak, 1997, Dost and Kraaijpoel, 2013, Ruigrok and Dost, 2020, Ntinalexis et al, 2022 are derived from prior studies. Routines and publicly available data used to create the figures and results of this paper can be found online at https://github.com/RyanJamesSchultz/riskTLPnl.…”

A Comprehensive Numerical Model for Reservoir-Induced Earthquake Risk Assessment

“…Small-large-magnitude induced earthquakes have prompted the development, in the research community, of seismic risk models that serve both to estimate the impact of these events and to explore the efficacy of different risk mitigation strategies [30,31]. While discussions surrounding elastic stress's effects on induced seismicity are plentiful, few studies have managed to predict seismic events preemptively, offer reservoir siting guidelines, or delineate risk zones during impoundment.…”