In this paper, we use the Seismicity-Based Reservoir Characterization approach to study the spatiotemporal dynamics of an injection-induced microseismic cloud, monitored during the stimulation of an enhanced geothermal system, and associated with the Northwest Geysers Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) Demonstration project (California). We identified the development of a seismically quiet domain around the injection well surrounded by a seismically active domain. Then we compare these observations with the results of 3-D Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical simulations of the EGS, which accounts for changes in permeability as a function of the effective normal stress and the plastic strain. The results of our modeling show that (1) the aseismic domain is caused by both the presence of the injected cold water and by thermal processes. These thermal processes cause a cooling-stress reduction, which prevent shear reactivation and favors fracture opening by reducing effective normal stress and locally increasing the permeability. This process is accompanied by aseismic plastic shear strain. (2) In the seismic domain, microseismicity is caused by the reactivation of the preexisting fractures, resulting from an increase in injection-induced pore pressure. Our modeling indicates that in this domain, permeability evolves according to the effective normal stress acting on the shear zones, whereas shearing of preexisting fractures may have a low impact on permeability. We attribute this lack of permeability gain to the fact that the initial permeabilities of these preexisting fractures are already high (up to 2 orders of magnitude higher than the host rock) and may already be fully dilated by past tectonic straining.

An Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) Demonstration Project is currently underway in the Northwest Geysers. The project goal is to demonstrate the feasibility of stimulating a deep high-temperature reservoir (HTR) (up to 400 °C, 750 °F). Two previously abandoned wells, Prati State 31 (PS-31) and Prati 32 (P-32), were reopened and deepened to be used as an injection and production doublet to stimulate the HTR. The deepened portions of both wells have conductive temperature gradients of 10 °F/100 ft (182 °C/km), produce connate native fluids and magmatic gas, and the rocks were isotopically unexchanged by meteoric water. The ambient temperature meteoric water injected into these hot dry rocks has evidently created a permeability volume of several cubic kilometers as determined by seismic monitoring. Preliminary isotopic analyses of the injected and produced water indicate that 50–75% of the steam from the created EGS reservoir is injection-derived.

Geodetic observations, often in conjunction with other data, provide a cost-effective means for identifying and characterizing geothermal resources. A review of the various methods reveals how the technology for measuring deformation has advanced considerably in the past few decades. Currently, interferometric synthetic aperture radar is the method of choice for monitoring deformation at a geothermal field. A discussion of geodetic monitoring at The Geysers geothermal field, California, illustrates some of the progress made and the challenges that remain.

We present a three-dimensional thermohydromechanical numerical study of the evolution and distribution of the stress tensor within the northwest part of The Geysers geothermal reservoir (in California), including a detailed study of the region around one injection well from 2003 to 2012. Initially, after imposing a normal faulting stress regime, we calculated local changes in the stress regime around injection wells. Our results were compared with previously published studies in which the stress state was inferred from inverting the focal plane mechanism of seismic events. Our main finding is that changes in stress tensor orientation are caused by injection-induced progressive cooling of the reservoir, as well as by the seasonal variations in injection rate. Because of the gravity flow and cooling around a liquid zone formed by the injection, the vertical stress reduction is larger and propagates far below the injection well. At the same time, the horizontal stress increases, mostly because of stress redistribution below and above the cooling area. These two phenomena cause the rotation of the stress tensor and the appearance of a strike-slip regime above, inside, and below the cooling area. The cooling and the associated rotation of the stress regime can play a significant role in the observed long-term deepening of the microseismicity below active injection wells.

The Geysers geothermal field located in northern California, USA, is the world's largest electricity-generating geothermal facility. To delineate the spatio-temporal distribution of reservoir steam and recharge water, we have collected microseismic and magnetotelluric (MT) data using a dense array of stations in 2021. The microseismic and MT data have been inverted together using a 3D cooperative joint inversion workflow. The joint inversion exploits a cross-gradient structural constraint because electrical conductivity structures observed in the geothermal field are strongly correlated with VP/VS structures. To mitigate convergence issues associated with 3D large-scale joint inversion, the scheme is split into small manageable inversion subsets. By systematically performing the three inversion subsets and exchanging the structural information between velocity and conductivity models, the cooperative joint inversion mimics the full joint inversion. The 3D joint inversion results agree well with previous 3D microseismic and MT inversion studies. We find that the cooperative joint inversion improves overall MT images in terms of resolution and consistency with respect to the VP/VS model. The joint inversion also further reduces the MT data misfit. In contrast, the joint inversion does not significantly improve microseismic images because MT inversion produces low-resolution conductivity images with respect to microseismic images in depth of investigation (i.e., 1-5 km) and thus does not provide sufficient structural details that are required for improving microseismic images.

In this paper, we summarize the results of coupled thermal, hydraulic, and mechanical (THM) modeling in support of the Northwest Geysers EGS Demonstration Project, which aims at enhancing production from a known High Temperature Reservoir (HTR) (280–400 °C) located under the conventional (240 °C) geothermal steam reservoir. The THM modeling was conducted to investigate geomechanical effects of cold-water injection during the stimulation of the EGS, first to predict the extent of the stimulation zone for a given injection schedule, and then to conduct interpretive analyses of the actual stimulation. By using a calibrated THM model based on historic injection and microseismic data at a nearby well, we could reasonably predict the extent of the stimulation zone around the injection well, at least for the first few months of injection. However, observed microseismic evolution and pressure responses over the one-year stimulation-injection revealed more heterogeneous behavior as a result of more complex geology, including a network of shear zones. Therefore, for an interpretive analysis of the one-year stimulation campaign, we included two sets of vertical shear zones within the model; a set of more permeable NW-striking shear zones and a set of less permeable NE-striking shear zones. Our modeling indicates that the microseismic events in this system are related to shear reactivation of pre-existing fractures, triggered by the combined effects of injection-induced cooling around the injection well and rapid (but small) changes in steam pressure as far as a kilometer from the injection well. Overall, the integrated monitoring and modeling of microseismicity, ground surface deformations, reservoir pressure, fluid chemical composition, and seismic tomography depict an EGS system hydraulically bounded by some of the NE-striking low permeability shear zones, with the more permeable NW-striking shear zone providing liquid flow paths for stimulation deep (several kilometers) down into the HTR. The modeling indicates that a significant mechanical degradation (damage) inferred from seismic tomography, and potential changes in fracture porosity inferred from cross-well pressure responses, are related to shear rupture in the stimulation zone driven by both pressure and cooling effects.