Locating earthquakes in west Texas oil fields using 3-D anisotropic velocity models

Earthquakes within the War-Wink gas field, Ward County, Texas, that have been located with a 1-D velocity model occur near the edges and top of a naturally occurring overpressured zone. Because the War-Wink field is a structurally controlled anticline with significant velocity anisotropy associated with the overpressured zone and finely layered evaporites, the authors have attempted to re-locate earthquakes using a 3-D anisotropic velocity model. Preliminary results with this model give the unsatisfactory result that many earthquakes previously located at the top of the overpressured zone (3-3.5 km) moved into the evaporites (1-1.5 km) above the field. They believe that this result could be caused by: (1) aliasing the velocity model; or (2) problems in determining the correct location minima when several minima exist. They are currently attempting to determine which of these causes is more likely for the unsatisfactory result observed.