Assessment of ground deformation and seismicity in two areas of intense hydrocarbon production in the Argentinian Patagonia
Publicated to:Scientific Reports. 12 (1): 19198- - 2022-01-01 12(1), DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-23160-6
Authors: Tamburini-Beliveau G; Grosso-Heredia JA; Béjar-Pizarro M; Pérez-López R; Portela J; Cismondi-Duarte M; Monserrat O
Affiliations
Abstract
The exploitation of both conventional and unconventional hydrocarbons may lead to still not well-known environmental consequences such as ground deformation and induced/triggered seismicity. Identifying and characterizing these effects is fundamental for prevention or mitigation purposes, especially when they impact populated areas. Two case studies of such effects on hydrocarbon-producing basins in Argentina, the Neuquén and the Golfo de San Jorge, are presented in this work. The intense hydrocarbon production activities in recent years and their potential link with the occurrence of two earthquakes of magnitude 4.9 and 5 near the operating well fields is assessed. A joint analysis of satellite radar interferometry and records of fluid injection and extraction demonstrate that, between 2017 and 2020, vertical ground displacements occurred in both study areas over active well fields that might indicate a correlation to hydrocarbon production activities. Coseismic deformation models of the two earthquakes constrain source depths to less than 2 km. The absence of seismicity before the beginning of the hydrocarbon activities in both areas, and the occurrence of the two largest and shallow earthquakes in the vicinity of the active well fields just after intensive production periods, points towards the potential association between both phenomena.
Keywords
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Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel
The work has been published in the journal Scientific Reports due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2022, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Multidisciplinary. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.
From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from the Field Citation Ratio (FCR) of the Dimensions source, it yields a value of: 2.75, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: Dimensions Jun 2025)
Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-06-11, the following number of citations:
- WoS: 1
- Scopus: 5
- OpenCitations: 5
Impact and social visibility
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This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Argentina.