Microseismic Monitoring – Learn From Industry Leaders Like ESG Solutions

Microseismic monitoring is the passive observation of very small-scale earthquakes which occur in the ground as a result of human activities or industrial processes such as mining, hydraulic fracturing, enhanced oil recovery, geothermal operations or underground gas storage.  Microseismic science grew out of earthquake seismology and focuses on micro-earthquakes (i.e. magnitude less than zero).  These micro-earthquakes are too small to be felt on the surface, but they can be detected by sensitive equipment such as geophones and accelerometers.

Microseismic fracture mapping schematicUnlike traditional 3D seismic technologies which measure acoustic reflections from an energy source, microseismic monitoring is a passive method, meaning that it listens for seismic energy which is already occurring underground.  Passive seismicity is also commonly referred to as “induced seismicity.”

Passive methods provide a continuous 4D record of seismicity in the monitoring region, rather than individual snapshots in time obtained by conventional 3D seismic methods.  Microseismic results are often delivered in real-time, and can literally offer a video recording of what is happening deep underground as a result of industrial operations.