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Characterizing stress orientations in southern Kansas

Robert Skoumal·Elizabeth S. Cochran·Kayla A. Kroll·Justin L. Rubinstein·Devin McPhillips
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Abstract

Induced seismicity predominantly occurs along faults that are optimally oriented to the local principal compressive stress direction, and the characterization of these stress orientations is an important component of understanding seismic hazards. The seismicity rate in southern Kansas rapidly increased in 2013 primarily due to the disposal of large volumes of wastewater into the Arbuckle Group. Previously, local stress orientations in this area were poorly constrained, which limited our understanding of the complex faulting and diverse earthquake mechanisms in this region. We use shear‐wave splitting and focal mechanism inversion techniques to create multiple, independent estimates of maximum horizontal stress directions ( ⁠ S H max ">

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Bulletin of the Seismological Society of AmericaArticle
90° N90° S · 180° W ← longitude → 180° E
Source-reported bounding extent: 37.020098201368114° to 37.579412513438385° latitude; -97.62451171875° to -96.30615234375° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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Robert Skoumal, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Kayla A. Kroll, Justin L. Rubinstein, Devin McPhillips. 2021-03-09. Characterizing stress orientations in southern Kansas. https://doi.org/10.1785/0120200340

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