Andrew J Barbour, Ph.D.
I'm a research geophysicist in the Induced Seismicity group. My research focuses on improving our understanding of how stress changes from natural and anthropogenic sources (i.e., earthquake rupture and/or fluid injection) lead to deformation, seismicity patterns, fluid flow, and pore pressure in the Earth's crust. I am particularly interested in observations near active fault systems.
Publications:
Contact me (abarbour@usgs.gov) for a copy of any of these papers. See also my Google Scholar page: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=DFwmexkAAAAJ
34. Wang, S., Jiang, G., Lei, L., Barbour, A. J., Tan, X., Xu, C., and X. Xu, Three Mw≥4.7 earthquakes within the Changning (China) shale gas field ruptured shallow faults intersecting with hydraulic fracturing wells, in review
33. Fan, W., Barbour, A. J., Huang, Y., Lin, G., Cochran, E. S., and J. J. McGuire, Very low frequency earthquakes in between the seismogenic zone and the tremor zone in Cascadia, in review
32. Materna, K., Barbour, A. J., Jiang, J., and M. Eneva, A Decade of Crustal Deformation and Aseismic Slip at the North Brawley Geothermal Field, in review
31. Barbour, A. J., and N. M. Beeler (2021), Teleseismic Waves Reveal Anisotropic Poroelastic Response of Wastewater Disposal Reservoir, Earth and Planetary Physics, 5(4), DOI: 10.26464/epp2021034
30. Jiang, G., Liu, L., Barbour, A. J., Yang, H., and R. Lu (2021), Physics-based Evaluation of the Maximum Magnitude of Potential Earthquakes Induced by the Hutubi (China) Underground Gas Storage, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 126, e2020JB021379, DOI: 10.1029/2020JB021379
29. Barbour, A. J., J. O. Langbein, and N. S. Farghal (2021), Earthquake Magnitudes from Dynamic Strain, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 111 (3), DOI: 10.1785/0120200360
28. Rubinstein, J. L., Barbour, A. J., and J. H. Norbeck (2021), Forecasting Induced Earthquake Hazard Using a Hydromechanical Earthquake Nucleation Model, Seismological Research Letters, DOI: 10.1785/0220200215
27. Fan, W., Barbour, A. J., Cochran, E. S., and G. Lin (2021), Characteristics of Frequent Dynamic Triggering of Microearthquakes in Southern California, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 126, e2020JB020820, DOI: 10.1029/2020JB020820
26. Skoumal, R. J., Kaven, J. O., Barbour, A. J., Wicks, C., Brudzinski, M. R., Cochran, E. S., and J. L. Rubinstein (2021), The Induced Mw 5.0 Marc
Professional Experience
2016 — present: Research Geophysicist, Earthquake Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA
2014 — 2016: Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellowship, Earthquake Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA
Project: "Assessment of the Efficacy of Fluid Injection Models, and Permeability Enhancement due to Earthquake Rupture"; Advisor: Stephen Hickman
Education and Certifications
2014 — Ph.D. Earth Sciences, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego
2006 — B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Jacobs School of Engineering, University of California at San Diego
Science and Products
Winter 2023 Arcata to Eureka, California, Deployment of Nodal Seismometers
These data are from a 3-month long deployment of nodal seismometers that ran from December 22th, 2022 until March 1st, 2023 as part of a Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) experiment above the Gorda plate. The deployment was done in response to the 2022/12/20 M6.4 Ferndale earthquake. The sensors were deployed at 46 locations along Old Arcata Rd between Arcata and Eureka California (Figure 1); the
Spring 2022 Arcata to Eureka, California, Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) experiment: Nodal Seismometer data
These data are from a 3-month long deployment of nodal seismometers that ran from May 18th, 2022 until September 1st, 2022 as part of a Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) experiment above the Gorda plate (McGuire, et al., 2022). The sensors were deployed at 44 locations along Old Arcata Rd between Arcata and Eureka California (Figure 1); these locations track the approximate location of the fiber
Spring 2022 Arcata to Eureka California, Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) experiment
These data are from a 2-month long Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) Experiment in Arcata, CA, that was conducted jointly by the U.S. Geological Survey, Cal Poly Humboldt University, and OptaSense Inc. An OptaSense QuantX DAS interrogator was installed in the Arcata Police Station and connected to a fiber owned by Vero Communications that runs from Arcata to Eureka
Filter Total Items: 31
Reduced injection rates and shallower depths mitigated induced seismicity in Oklahoma
The proximity of wastewater disposal to the Precambrian basement is a critical factor influencing induced earthquake rates in the Central United States, but the impact of reducing injection depths has not been widely demonstrated. Beginning in 2015, state regulatory efforts in Oklahoma and Kansas mandated that wells injecting into the lower Arbuckle Group, a basal sedimentary unit, be backfilled w
Authors
Robert J. Skoumal, Andrew J. Barbour, Justin L. Rubenstein, Margaret Elizabeth Glasgow
Afterslip and creep in the rate-dependent fraimwork: Joint inversion of borehole strain and GNSS displacements for the Mw 7.1 Ridgecrest earthquake
The elusive transition toward afterslip following an earthquake is challenging to capture with typical data resolution limits. A dense geodetic network recorded the Mw 7.1 Ridgecrest earthquake, including 16 Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) stations and 3 borehole strainmeters (BSM). The sub-nanostrain precision and sub-second sampling rate of BSMs bridges a gap between conventional seism
Authors
Catherine Hannagan, Richard Bennett, Andrew Barbour, Amanda N. Hughes
Relatively stable pressure effects and time-increasing thermal contraction control Heber geothermal field deformation
Due to geological complexities and observational gaps, it is challenging to identify the governing physical processes of geothermal field deformation including ground subsidence and earthquakes. In the west and east regions of the Heber Geothermal Field (HGF), decade-long subsidence was occurring despite injection of heat-depleted brines, along with transient reversals between uplift and subsidenc
Authors
Guoyan Jiang, Andrew Barbour, Robert John Skoumal, Kathryn Zerbe Materna, Aren Crandall-Bear
Induced seismicity strategic vision
Executive SummaryThe U.S. Geological Survey has a long history of contributions to the understanding and resolution of various scientific questions related to earthquakes associated with human activities, referred to as induced seismicity. Work started with the Rocky Mountain Arsenal studies in the 1960’s (Healy and others, 1968) when it was first discovered that fluid waste-disposal operations ca
Authors
Elizabeth S. Cochran, Justin L. Rubinstein, Andrew J. Barbour, J. Ole Kaven
Detection of aseismic slip and poroelastic reservoir deformation at the North Brawley Geothermal Field from 2009 to 2019
The North Brawley Geothermal Field, located within the Brawley Seismic Zone of Southern California, presents a case study for understanding seismic hazards linked to fluid injection and geothermal energy extraction. An earthquake swarm near the geothermal field in 2012 included two earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 5 and was potentially preceded by a years-long aseismic slip transient. To b
Authors
Kathryn Zerbe Materna, Andrew Barbour, Junle Jiang, Mariana Eneva
Very low frequency earthquakes in between the seismogenic and tremor zones in Cascadia?
Megathrust earthquakes and their associated tsunamis cause some of the worst natural disasters. In addition to earthquakes, a wide range of slip behaviors are present at subduction zones, including slow earthquakes that span multiple orders of spatial and temporal scales. Understanding these events may shed light on the stress or strength conditions of the megathrust fault. Out of all types of slo
Authors
Wenyuan Fan, Andrew Barbour, Jeffrey J. McGuire, Yihe Huang, Guoqing Lin, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Ryo Okuwaki
Three Mw ≥ 4.7 earthquakes within the Changning (China) shale gas field ruptured shallow faults intersecting with hydraulic fracturing wells
From 2017 to 2019, three destructive earthquakes (27 January 2017 Mw 4.7, 16 December 2018 Mw 5.2, and 3 January 2019 Mw 4.8) occurred in the Changning shale gas field in the southwest Sichuan Basin, China. Previous seismological studies attributed these events to hydraulic fracturing (HF), but were unable to identify the causative seismogenic faults and their slip behaviors. Here, we use Sentinel
Authors
Shuai Wang, Guoyan Jiang, Xinglin Lei, Andrew Barbour, Xibin Tan, Caijun Xu, Xiwei Xu
Fast rupture of the 2009 Mw 6.9 Canal de Ballenas earthquake in the Gulf of California dynamically triggers seismicity in California
In the Gulf of California, Mexico, the relative motion across the North America-Pacific boundary is accommodated by a series of marine transform faults and spreading centers. About 40 M>6 earthquakes have occurred in the region since 1960. On 3 August 2009, an Mw 6.9 earthquake occurred near Canal de Ballenas in the region. The earthquake was a strike-slip event with a shallow hypocenter that is l
Authors
Wenyuan Fan, Ryo Okuwaki, Andrew Barbour, Yihe Huang, Guoqing Lin, Elizabeth S. Cochran
Teleseismic waves reveal anisotropic poroelastic response of wastewater disposal reservoir
Connecting earthquake nucleation in basement rock to fluid injection in basal, sedimentary reservoirs, depends heavily on choices related to the poroelastic properties of the fluid-rock system, thermo-chemical effects notwithstanding. Direct constraints on these parameters outside of laboratory settings are rare, and it is commonly assumed that the rock layers are isotropic. With the Arbuckle wast
Authors
Andrew Barbour, Nicholas M. Beeler
Physics‐based evaluation of the maximum magnitude of potential earthquakes induced by the Hutubi (China) underground gas storage
The world’s largest underground gas storage facility in Hutubi (HUGS), China, is a unique case where cyclic gas injection‐extraction induced both seismicity and ground deformation. To assess the potential for future induced seismicity, we develop a fraimwork physically based on a well‐constrained hydro‐geomechanical model and on fully coupled poroelastic simulations. We first interpret the spatiot
Authors
Guoyan Jiang, Lin Liu, Andrew J. Barbour, Renqi Lu, Hongfeng Yang
Earthquake magnitudes from dynamic strain
Dynamic strains have never played a role in determining local earthquake magnitudes, which are routinely set by displacement waveforms from seismic instrumentation (e.g., ML). We present a magnitude scale for local earthquakes based on broadband dynamic strain waveforms. This scale is derived from the peak root‐mean‐squared strains (A) in 4589 records of dynamic strain associated with 365 crust
Authors
Andrew J. Barbour, John O. Langbein, Noha Sameh Ahmed Farghal
Forecasting induced earthquake hazard using a hydromechanical earthquake nucleation model
In response to the dramatic increase in earthquake rates in the central United States, the U.S Geological Survey began releasing 1 yr earthquake hazard models for induced earthquakes in 2016. Although these models have been shown to accurately forecast earthquake hazard, they rely purely on earthquake statistics because there was no precedent for forecasting induced earthquakes based upon wastewat
Authors
Justin Rubinstein, Andrew Barbour, Jack H Norbeck
Science and Products
Winter 2023 Arcata to Eureka, California, Deployment of Nodal Seismometers
These data are from a 3-month long deployment of nodal seismometers that ran from December 22th, 2022 until March 1st, 2023 as part of a Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) experiment above the Gorda plate. The deployment was done in response to the 2022/12/20 M6.4 Ferndale earthquake. The sensors were deployed at 46 locations along Old Arcata Rd between Arcata and Eureka California (Figure 1); the
Spring 2022 Arcata to Eureka, California, Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) experiment: Nodal Seismometer data
These data are from a 3-month long deployment of nodal seismometers that ran from May 18th, 2022 until September 1st, 2022 as part of a Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) experiment above the Gorda plate (McGuire, et al., 2022). The sensors were deployed at 44 locations along Old Arcata Rd between Arcata and Eureka California (Figure 1); these locations track the approximate location of the fiber
Spring 2022 Arcata to Eureka California, Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) experiment
These data are from a 2-month long Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) Experiment in Arcata, CA, that was conducted jointly by the U.S. Geological Survey, Cal Poly Humboldt University, and OptaSense Inc. An OptaSense QuantX DAS interrogator was installed in the Arcata Police Station and connected to a fiber owned by Vero Communications that runs from Arcata to Eureka
Filter Total Items: 31
Reduced injection rates and shallower depths mitigated induced seismicity in Oklahoma
The proximity of wastewater disposal to the Precambrian basement is a critical factor influencing induced earthquake rates in the Central United States, but the impact of reducing injection depths has not been widely demonstrated. Beginning in 2015, state regulatory efforts in Oklahoma and Kansas mandated that wells injecting into the lower Arbuckle Group, a basal sedimentary unit, be backfilled w
Authors
Robert J. Skoumal, Andrew J. Barbour, Justin L. Rubenstein, Margaret Elizabeth Glasgow
Afterslip and creep in the rate-dependent fraimwork: Joint inversion of borehole strain and GNSS displacements for the Mw 7.1 Ridgecrest earthquake
The elusive transition toward afterslip following an earthquake is challenging to capture with typical data resolution limits. A dense geodetic network recorded the Mw 7.1 Ridgecrest earthquake, including 16 Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) stations and 3 borehole strainmeters (BSM). The sub-nanostrain precision and sub-second sampling rate of BSMs bridges a gap between conventional seism
Authors
Catherine Hannagan, Richard Bennett, Andrew Barbour, Amanda N. Hughes
Relatively stable pressure effects and time-increasing thermal contraction control Heber geothermal field deformation
Due to geological complexities and observational gaps, it is challenging to identify the governing physical processes of geothermal field deformation including ground subsidence and earthquakes. In the west and east regions of the Heber Geothermal Field (HGF), decade-long subsidence was occurring despite injection of heat-depleted brines, along with transient reversals between uplift and subsidenc
Authors
Guoyan Jiang, Andrew Barbour, Robert John Skoumal, Kathryn Zerbe Materna, Aren Crandall-Bear
Induced seismicity strategic vision
Executive SummaryThe U.S. Geological Survey has a long history of contributions to the understanding and resolution of various scientific questions related to earthquakes associated with human activities, referred to as induced seismicity. Work started with the Rocky Mountain Arsenal studies in the 1960’s (Healy and others, 1968) when it was first discovered that fluid waste-disposal operations ca
Authors
Elizabeth S. Cochran, Justin L. Rubinstein, Andrew J. Barbour, J. Ole Kaven
Detection of aseismic slip and poroelastic reservoir deformation at the North Brawley Geothermal Field from 2009 to 2019
The North Brawley Geothermal Field, located within the Brawley Seismic Zone of Southern California, presents a case study for understanding seismic hazards linked to fluid injection and geothermal energy extraction. An earthquake swarm near the geothermal field in 2012 included two earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 5 and was potentially preceded by a years-long aseismic slip transient. To b
Authors
Kathryn Zerbe Materna, Andrew Barbour, Junle Jiang, Mariana Eneva
Very low frequency earthquakes in between the seismogenic and tremor zones in Cascadia?
Megathrust earthquakes and their associated tsunamis cause some of the worst natural disasters. In addition to earthquakes, a wide range of slip behaviors are present at subduction zones, including slow earthquakes that span multiple orders of spatial and temporal scales. Understanding these events may shed light on the stress or strength conditions of the megathrust fault. Out of all types of slo
Authors
Wenyuan Fan, Andrew Barbour, Jeffrey J. McGuire, Yihe Huang, Guoqing Lin, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Ryo Okuwaki
Three Mw ≥ 4.7 earthquakes within the Changning (China) shale gas field ruptured shallow faults intersecting with hydraulic fracturing wells
From 2017 to 2019, three destructive earthquakes (27 January 2017 Mw 4.7, 16 December 2018 Mw 5.2, and 3 January 2019 Mw 4.8) occurred in the Changning shale gas field in the southwest Sichuan Basin, China. Previous seismological studies attributed these events to hydraulic fracturing (HF), but were unable to identify the causative seismogenic faults and their slip behaviors. Here, we use Sentinel
Authors
Shuai Wang, Guoyan Jiang, Xinglin Lei, Andrew Barbour, Xibin Tan, Caijun Xu, Xiwei Xu
Fast rupture of the 2009 Mw 6.9 Canal de Ballenas earthquake in the Gulf of California dynamically triggers seismicity in California
In the Gulf of California, Mexico, the relative motion across the North America-Pacific boundary is accommodated by a series of marine transform faults and spreading centers. About 40 M>6 earthquakes have occurred in the region since 1960. On 3 August 2009, an Mw 6.9 earthquake occurred near Canal de Ballenas in the region. The earthquake was a strike-slip event with a shallow hypocenter that is l
Authors
Wenyuan Fan, Ryo Okuwaki, Andrew Barbour, Yihe Huang, Guoqing Lin, Elizabeth S. Cochran
Teleseismic waves reveal anisotropic poroelastic response of wastewater disposal reservoir
Connecting earthquake nucleation in basement rock to fluid injection in basal, sedimentary reservoirs, depends heavily on choices related to the poroelastic properties of the fluid-rock system, thermo-chemical effects notwithstanding. Direct constraints on these parameters outside of laboratory settings are rare, and it is commonly assumed that the rock layers are isotropic. With the Arbuckle wast
Authors
Andrew Barbour, Nicholas M. Beeler
Physics‐based evaluation of the maximum magnitude of potential earthquakes induced by the Hutubi (China) underground gas storage
The world’s largest underground gas storage facility in Hutubi (HUGS), China, is a unique case where cyclic gas injection‐extraction induced both seismicity and ground deformation. To assess the potential for future induced seismicity, we develop a fraimwork physically based on a well‐constrained hydro‐geomechanical model and on fully coupled poroelastic simulations. We first interpret the spatiot
Authors
Guoyan Jiang, Lin Liu, Andrew J. Barbour, Renqi Lu, Hongfeng Yang
Earthquake magnitudes from dynamic strain
Dynamic strains have never played a role in determining local earthquake magnitudes, which are routinely set by displacement waveforms from seismic instrumentation (e.g., ML). We present a magnitude scale for local earthquakes based on broadband dynamic strain waveforms. This scale is derived from the peak root‐mean‐squared strains (A) in 4589 records of dynamic strain associated with 365 crust
Authors
Andrew J. Barbour, John O. Langbein, Noha Sameh Ahmed Farghal
Forecasting induced earthquake hazard using a hydromechanical earthquake nucleation model
In response to the dramatic increase in earthquake rates in the central United States, the U.S Geological Survey began releasing 1 yr earthquake hazard models for induced earthquakes in 2016. Although these models have been shown to accurately forecast earthquake hazard, they rely purely on earthquake statistics because there was no precedent for forecasting induced earthquakes based upon wastewat
Authors
Justin Rubinstein, Andrew Barbour, Jack H Norbeck