Several recent studies have presented evidence that significant induced earthquakes occurred in a number of oil-producing regions during the early and mid-twentieth century related to either production or wastewater injection. We consider whether the 21 July 1952 M_w 7.5 Kern County earthquake might have been induced by production in the Wheeler Ridge oil field. The mainshock, which was not preceded by any significant foreshocks, occurred 98 days after the initial production of oil in Eocene strata at depths reaching 3 km, within ~1 km of the White Wolf fault (WWF). Based on this spatial and temporal proximity, we explore a potential causal relationship between the earthquake and oil production. While production would have normally be expected to have reduced pore pressure, inhibiting failure on the WWF, we present an analytical model based on industry stratigraphic data and best estimates of parameters whereby an impermeable splay fault adjacent to the main WWF could plausibly have blocked direct pore pressure effects, allowing the poroelastic stress change associated with production to destabilize the WWF, promoting initial failure. This proof-of-concept model can also account for the 98-day delay between the onset of production and the earthquake. While the earthquake clearly released stored tectonic stress, any initial perturbation on or near a major fault system can trigger a larger rupture. Our proposed mechanism provides an explanation for why significant earthquakes are not commonly induced by production in proximity to major faults.

中文翻译：

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加利福尼亚州克恩县7.5级1952年地震是否引起（或触发）地震？

最近的几项研究提供了证据，表明在二十世纪初和中期，许多石油生产地区发生了与生产或废水注入有关的重大地震。我们认为，无论是1952年7月21日中号_{w ^}7.5克恩县地震可能是由惠勒里奇油田的生产引起的。没有发生任何重大前震的主震发生在始于始新世地层的石油在距白狼断裂带（WWF）约1公里以内3 km处开始采油后的98天。基于这种时空邻近性，我们探讨了地震与石油生产之间的潜在因果关系。虽然通常可以预期产量会降低孔隙压力，从而抑制WWF的破坏，但我们基于行业地层数据和参数的最佳估计，提出了一种分析模型，据此，与主要WWF相邻的不可渗透的张开断层可能会堵塞直接孔隙压力效应，使与生产相关的孔隙弹性应力变化破坏了世界自然基金会的稳定性，促进最初的失败。这种概念验证模型还可以解释生产开始到地震之间98天的延迟。尽管地震清楚地释放了存储的构造应力，但主要断裂系统上或附近的任何初始扰动都会触发更大的破裂。我们提出的机制提供了一个解释，解释了为什么在主要断层附近的发生通常不引起大地震。