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Research about Raton Basin

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Raton Basin.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2026

Small earthquake moment magnitude and implications for frequency–magnitude scaling of injection induced earthquakes of the Raton Basin

Accurate estimation of earthquake source parameters—such as moment magnitudes, corner frequencies, and stress drops—is essential for improving seismic hazard assessments and understanding earthquake physics. In this study, moment magnitudes ( M W ) are calculated for 31,581 earthquakes associated with wastewater injection in the Raton Basin (located along the border between northern New Mexico and southern Colorado) between 2016 and 2024 using radiative transfer theory to fit coda decay envelopes. Our results show that it is feasible to estimate moment magnitudes down to M W ~1 with coda envelopes from a small local monitoring network. Significant differences were found between M W and local magnitudes ( M L ) for small earthquakes ( M < 3.0). A linear relationship was optimized to convert M L to M W : M W = 0.7 M L + 0.96 and M W = 0.73 M L + 0.99 (for the events reported by the U.S. Geological Survey), which can be applied in future studies of Raton Basin seismicity. We find that b -values calculated employing different methods and using M L are approximately 1.0, while those using M W range from 1.2 to 1.4. A larger estimate of the b -value could influence interpretations of the statistical behavior of earthquakes associated with injection and consequently seismic hazard assessments based on a magnitude–frequency distribution. The potential differences between local versus moment magnitude-based earthquake statistics should be considered in other seismically active regions.

Colorado, New Mexico↗
USGS2025

Evidence for fluid pressurization of fault zones and persistent sensitivity to injection rate beneath the Raton Basin

Subsurface wastewater injection has increased the seismicity rate within the Raton Basin over more than two decades, with the basin-wide injection rate peaked between 2009-2015. To understand the evolution of injection-induced earthquakes, we systematically analyzed 2016-2024 broadband recordings with a machine-learning-based phase picker and constructed a catalog with 95,993 earthquakes (-1≤ M L ≤4.3). We then inverted for full centroid moment tensors (CMT) for 90 M L ≥ 2 events, with a special interest in constraining the non-double-couple components via probabilistic metrics. Both relocations and CMT solutions support basement-rooted normal faults, including graben and half-graben structures. Furthermore, we observe the non-double-couple components that imply elevated pore pressure in the fault zones. An earthquake cluster emerged in the north-central basin in 2023, preceded by ~1-yr of increased injection volume from wells within 15km. Despite a basin-wide decrease in the injection volume, we highlights the persistence of seismicity that remains to sensitive to injection rates within the Raton Basin.

Colorado, New Mexico↗
USGS2021

Evidence for variable precipitation and discharge from Upper Cretaceous–Paleogene fluvial deposits of the Raton Basin, Colorado–New Mexico, U.S.A.

The Raton Basin of Colorado–New Mexico, USA, is the southeasternmost basin of the Laramide intraforeland province of North America. It hosts a thick succession (4.5 km or 15,000 ft) of Upper Cretaceous to Paleogene marine and continental strata that were deposited in response to the final regression of the Western Interior Seaway and the onset of Laramide intraforeland deformation. The Upper Cretaceous–Paleogene Raton and Poison Canyon formations were previously described as meandering river and braided river deposits that represented distal and proximal members of rivers that drained the basin-bounding Sangre de Cristo–Culebra uplift. We present new observations of fluvial-channel architecture that show that both formations contain the deposits of sinuous fluvial channels. However, fluvial channels of the Raton Formation formed in ever-wet environments and were affected by steady discharge, whereas channels of the overlying Poison Canyon Formation formed in drier environments and were affected by variable discharge. The apparent transition in fluvial discharge characteristics was coeval with the progradation of fluvial fans across the Raton Basin during the Paleocene, emanating from the ancestral Sangre de Cristo–Culebra uplift. The construction of fluvial fans, coupled with the sedimentary features observed within, highlights the dual control of Laramide deformation and early Cenozoic climatic patterns on the sedimentary evolution of the Raton Basin.

Colorado, New Mexico↗
USGS2015

Regional tectonic setting for the Trinidad earthquake swarms (2000-2012) from gravity and magnetic data

Earthquakes in the Raton basin near Trinidad, Colorado, (Figure 1) are located (Rubenstein et. al., 2014) near a major gravity and magnetic boundary. These earthquakes also occur in an area of hydrocarbon production that includes several high-capacity produced water injection wells. This presentation gives a very basic outline of the relation between the earthquakes, the potential field data, and possible basement structure.

Colorado, New Mexico↗
USGS2014

The 2001-present induced earthquake sequence in the Raton Basin of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado

We investigate the ongoing seismicity in the Raton Basin and find that the deep injection of wastewater from the coal‐bed methane field is responsible for inducing the majority of the seismicity since 2001. Many lines of evidence indicate that this earthquake sequence was induced by wastewater injection. First, there was a marked increase in seismicity shortly after major fluid injection began in the Raton Basin in 1999. From 1972 through July 2001, there was one M≥4 earthquake in the Raton Basin, whereas 12 occurred between August 2001 and 2013. The statistical likelihood that such a rate change would occur if earthquakes behaved randomly in time is 3.0%. Moreover, this rate change is limited to the area of industrial activity. Earthquake rates remain low in the surrounding area. Second, the vast majority of the seismicity is within 5 km of active disposal wells and is shallow, ranging between 2 and 8 km depth. The two most carefully studied earthquake sequences in 2001 and 2011 have earthquakes within 2 km of high‐volume, high‐injection‐rate wells. Third, injection wells in the area are commonly very high volume and high rate. Two wells adjacent to the August 2011 M 5.3 earthquake injected about 4.9 million cubic meters of wastewater before the earthquake, more than seven times the amount injected at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal well that caused damaging earthquakes near Denver, Colorado, in the 1960s. The August 2011 M 5.3 event is the second‐largest earthquake to date for which there is clear evidence that the earthquake sequence was induced by fluid injection.

Colorado;New Mexico↗
USGS2001

Potential for a basin-centered gas accumulation in the Raton Basin, Colorado and New Mexico

The Raton Basin appears to contain a significant continuous or basin-centered gas accumulation in sandstones of the Upper Cretaceous Trinidad Sandstone and Vermejo Formation and Upper Cretaceous and Paleocene Raton Formation. The accumulation is underpressured and occurs at comparatively shallow (<3,500 ft) depths. The sandstones are interbedded with coal beds that are currently being developed for coal-bed methane, and the coals are the likely source for gas found in the sandstones. Based on analogs with other Rocky Mountain basins, relatively water-free production should occur where levels of thermal maturity in the coals exceed a vitrinite reflectance value of 1.1 percent. This level of thermal maturity occurs over much of the central part of the Raton Basin. Because of the shallow depths, some of the accumulation has probably been degraded by surface water invasion.

Colorado, New Mexico↗