Justin Rubinstein

Research Geophysicist and Project Leader of the USGS Induced Seismicity Project.

Focus Areas:

Current research is focused on the following aspects of induced earthquakes

Observation and Physical Interpretation of Induced Earthquakes
Computing Earthquake Hazard for Induced Earthquakes
Ground Motion in Induced Earthquakes

Earlier research covered many topics including

Earthquake Recurrence and Prediction
Earthquake Location Methods
Repeating Earthquakes
Time Dependent Earth Properties
Tectonic Tremor
Nonlinear Site Response

Research:

Justin’s work examines earthquakes potentially related to human activities, with emphasis on the relationship between seismicity and wastewater disposal associated with oil and gas production. Current analysis focuses on the recent increase in seismicity in southern Kansas, an area of active oil and gas development known as the Mississippi Lime play. As part of the USGS Induced Seismicity Project, a network of 14 seismometers has been deployed in the region to monitor earthquake activity. Collaboration is ongoing with scientists and regulators at the Kansas Geological Survey, the Kansas Corporation Commission, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, and the Oklahoma Geological Survey.

Additional efforts contribute to developing methods for computing earthquake hazard related to induced and potentially induced seismicity. This work includes creating approaches capable of addressing rapid changes in earthquake rates and evolving seismically active regions, producing hazard estimates over short time periods, and incorporating recent earthquake data to forecast near-term seismic behavior. Improved industrial data describing operational parameters and changes in oil and gas field activity would enhance the characterization of induced-seismicity hazard. For more information on computing the hazard from induced earthquakes see: Computing Hazard From Induced Earthquakes and a preliminary report by Petersen et al. (2014).

Research has also addressed the increase in seismicity in the Raton Basin (Colorado and New Mexico) since 2001, a sequence that includes M5.0 and M5.3 events. Findings demonstrate that these earthquakes were induced by wastewater disposal associated with coal-bed methane production. For more information see Rubinstein et al (2014) and Barnhart et al. (2014).