History of monitoring induced seismicity in New Mexico

Abstract

ABSTRACT New Mexico has experienced earthquakes throughout its history. Paleoseismic records show numerous Quaternary faults along the Rio Grande Rift, which runs N-S through the state, and events as large as ~M 6.2 have occurred associated with the Socorro magma body in central New Mexico. In recent years, the state has also experienced increased amounts of induced seismicity. Because of its long history of naturally occurring earthquakes, New Mexico began monitoring earthquakes in 1960, primarily around the Socorro area. In 1972, the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology established a seismic monitoring network in southeastern New Mexico to monitor seismicity in the region of the proposed Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, a nuclear waste storage facility. A permanent network was established in the 1990s, and it has been expanded and improved several times over the subsequent decades as the seismicity in the region has increased. Currently, the New Mexico Tech Seismological Observatory maintains 17 real-time stations throughout the state of New Mexico, primarily in the Socorro area and in southeastern New Mexico. The University of New Mexico, Los Alamos National Laboratory, U.S. Geological Survey, and the state of Texas maintain additional stations in and around New Mexico. Although the amount of induced seismicity in New Mexico has been to this point relatively moderate, the rapid increase in seismicity, particularly in the Permian Basin in southeastern New Mexico, has given rise to concerns about what the future could hold and led to increased efforts to understand the seismicity. Due to the location of New Mexico’s major oil- and gas-producing basins, several of which span state borders, collaboration with other states and agencies has been essential to studying these problems. Additionally, the long history of seismic monitoring in southeastern New Mexico provides an invaluable resource for understanding the progression of induced seismicity over time. We have only begun to fully utilize the potential of this data set.