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
Filter Total Items: 28
Hydrologically induced deformation in Long Valley Caldera and adjacent Sierra Nevada
Vertical and horizontal components of GNSS displacements in the Long Valley Caldera and adjacent Sierra Nevada range show a clear correlation with hydrological trends at both multiyear and seasonal time scales. We observe a clear vertical and horizontal seasonal deformation pattern primarily attributable to the solid earth response to hydrological surface loading at large-to-regional (Sierra Nevad
Authors
Francesca Silverii, Emily Montgomery-Brown, Adrian Borsa, Andrew Barbour
Induced seismicity reduces seismic hazard?
Earthquakes caused by human activities have been observed for decades. Often these are related to industrial activities pumping fluids into deep geologic formations, like with wastewater disposal. The simplest theory connecting these processes to earthquakes is straightforward: injection leads to fluid pressure changes that either reduce the strength of preexisting faults or generate new faults. I
Authors
Andrew J. Barbour, Fred Pollitz
Induced seismicity reduces seismic hazard?
Earthquakes caused by human activities have been observed for decades. Often these are related to industrial activities pumping fluids into deep geologic formations, like with wastewater disposal. The simplest theory connecting these processes to earthquakes is straightforward: injection leads to fluid pressure changes that either reduce the strength of preexisting faults or generate new faults. I
Authors
Andrew J. Barbour, Fred Pollitz
Leakage and increasing fluid pressure detected in Oklahoma's wastewater disposal reservoir
The Arbuckle Group is the principal reservoir used for wastewater disposal in Oklahoma. In Osage County—a seismically quiet part of the state—continuous measurements of fluid pressure reveal that pressure in the reservoir is increasing by at least 5 kPa annually and sometimes at a much higher rate. Tidal analysis reveals that fluid level changes lead the local strain tides, with no apparent influe
Authors
Andrew Barbour, Lian Xue, Evelyn Roeloffs, Justin Rubinstein
Earthquakes induced by hydraulic fracturing are pervasive in Oklahoma
Wastewater disposal is generally accepted to be the primary cause of the increased seismicity rate in Oklahoma within the past decade, but no statewide analysis has investigated the contribution of hydraulic fracturing (HF) to the observed seismicity or the seismic hazard. Utilizing an enhanced seismicity catalog generated with multi‐station template matching from 2010‐2016 and all available hydra
Authors
Robert J. Skoumal, Rosamiel Ries, Michael R. Brudzinski, Andrew J. Barbour, Brian S. Currie
Tidal response of groundwater in a leaky aquifer—Application to Oklahoma
Quantitative interpretation of the tidal response of water levels measured in wells has long been made either with a model for perfectly confined aquifers or with a model for purely unconfined aquifers. However, many aquifers may be neither totally confined nor purely unconfined at the frequencies of tidal loading but behave somewhere between the two end‐members. Here we present a more general mod
Authors
Chi-Yuen Wang, Mai-Linh Doan, Lian Xue, Andrew J. Barbour
Research to improve ShakeAlert earthquake early warning products and their utility
Earthquake early warning (EEW) is the rapid detection of an earthquake and issuance of an alert or notification to people and vulnerable systems likely to experience potentially damaging ground shaking. The level of ground shaking that is considered damaging is defined by the specific application; for example, manufacturing equipment may experience damage at a lower intensity ground shaking than w
Authors
Elizabeth S. Cochran, Brad T. Aagaard, Richard M. Allen, Jennifer Andrews, Annemarie S. Baltay, Andrew J. Barbour, Paul Bodin, Benjamin A. Brooks, Angela Chung, Brendan W. Crowell, Doug Given, Thomas C. Hanks, J. Renate Hartog, Egill Hauksson, Thomas H. Heaton, Sara McBride, Men-Andrin Meier, Diego Melgar, Sarah E. Minson, Jessica R. Murray, Jennifer A. Strauss, Douglas Toomey
Injection-induced moment release can also be aseismic
The cumulative seismic moment is a robust measure of the earthquake response to fluid injection for injection volumes ranging from 3100 to about 12 million m3. Over this range, the moment release is limited to twice the product of the shear modulus and the volume of injected fluid. This relation also applies at the much smaller injection volumes of the field experiment in France reported by Guglie
Authors
Arthur McGarr, Andrew J. Barbour
Irregular focal mechanisms observed at Salton Sea Geothermal Field: Possible influences of anthropogenic stress perturbations
At the Salton Sea Geothermal Field (SSGF), strain accumulation is released through seismic slip and aseismic deformation. Earthquake activity at the SSGF often occurs in swarm-like clusters, some with clear migration patterns. We have identified an earthquake sequence composed entirely of focal mechanisms representing an ambiguous style of faulting, where strikes are similar but deformation occurs
Authors
Aren Crandall-Bear, Andrew J. Barbour, Martin Schoenball
Influence of pore pressure change on coseismic volumetric strain
Coseismic strain is fundamentally important for understanding crustal response to changes of stress after earthquakes. The elastic dislocation model has been widely applied to interpreting observed shear deformation caused by earthquakes. The application of the same theory to interpreting volumetric strain, however, has met with difficulty, especially in the far field of earthquakes. Predicted vol
Authors
Chi-Yuen Wang, Andrew J. Barbour
Wastewater disposal and the earthquake sequences during 2016 near Fairview, Pawnee, and Cushing, Oklahoma
Each of the three earthquake sequences in Oklahoma in 2016—Fairview, Pawnee, and Cushing—appears to have been induced by high-volume wastewater disposal within 10 km. The Fairview M5.1 main shock was part of a 2 year sequence of more than 150 events of M3, or greater; the main shock accounted for about half of the total moment. The foreshocks and aftershocks of the M5.8 Pawnee earthquake were too
Authors
Arthur F. McGarr, Andrew J. Barbour
The effects of varying injection rates in Osage County, Oklahoma, on the 2016 Mw5.8 Pawnee earthquake
The 2016 Mw 5.8 Pawnee earthquake occurred in a region with active wastewater injection into a basal formation group. Prior to the earthquake, fluid injection rates at most wells were relatively steady, but newly collected data show significant increases in injection rate in the years leading up to earthquake. For the same time period, the total volumes of injected wastewater were roughly equivale
Authors
Andrew J. Barbour, Jack H. Norbeck, Justin L. Rubinstein
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 28
Hydrologically induced deformation in Long Valley Caldera and adjacent Sierra Nevada
Vertical and horizontal components of GNSS displacements in the Long Valley Caldera and adjacent Sierra Nevada range show a clear correlation with hydrological trends at both multiyear and seasonal time scales. We observe a clear vertical and horizontal seasonal deformation pattern primarily attributable to the solid earth response to hydrological surface loading at large-to-regional (Sierra Nevad
Authors
Francesca Silverii, Emily Montgomery-Brown, Adrian Borsa, Andrew Barbour
Induced seismicity reduces seismic hazard?
Earthquakes caused by human activities have been observed for decades. Often these are related to industrial activities pumping fluids into deep geologic formations, like with wastewater disposal. The simplest theory connecting these processes to earthquakes is straightforward: injection leads to fluid pressure changes that either reduce the strength of preexisting faults or generate new faults. I
Authors
Andrew J. Barbour, Fred Pollitz
Induced seismicity reduces seismic hazard?
Earthquakes caused by human activities have been observed for decades. Often these are related to industrial activities pumping fluids into deep geologic formations, like with wastewater disposal. The simplest theory connecting these processes to earthquakes is straightforward: injection leads to fluid pressure changes that either reduce the strength of preexisting faults or generate new faults. I
Authors
Andrew J. Barbour, Fred Pollitz
Leakage and increasing fluid pressure detected in Oklahoma's wastewater disposal reservoir
The Arbuckle Group is the principal reservoir used for wastewater disposal in Oklahoma. In Osage County—a seismically quiet part of the state—continuous measurements of fluid pressure reveal that pressure in the reservoir is increasing by at least 5 kPa annually and sometimes at a much higher rate. Tidal analysis reveals that fluid level changes lead the local strain tides, with no apparent influe
Authors
Andrew Barbour, Lian Xue, Evelyn Roeloffs, Justin Rubinstein
Earthquakes induced by hydraulic fracturing are pervasive in Oklahoma
Wastewater disposal is generally accepted to be the primary cause of the increased seismicity rate in Oklahoma within the past decade, but no statewide analysis has investigated the contribution of hydraulic fracturing (HF) to the observed seismicity or the seismic hazard. Utilizing an enhanced seismicity catalog generated with multi‐station template matching from 2010‐2016 and all available hydra
Authors
Robert J. Skoumal, Rosamiel Ries, Michael R. Brudzinski, Andrew J. Barbour, Brian S. Currie
Tidal response of groundwater in a leaky aquifer—Application to Oklahoma
Quantitative interpretation of the tidal response of water levels measured in wells has long been made either with a model for perfectly confined aquifers or with a model for purely unconfined aquifers. However, many aquifers may be neither totally confined nor purely unconfined at the frequencies of tidal loading but behave somewhere between the two end‐members. Here we present a more general mod
Authors
Chi-Yuen Wang, Mai-Linh Doan, Lian Xue, Andrew J. Barbour
Research to improve ShakeAlert earthquake early warning products and their utility
Earthquake early warning (EEW) is the rapid detection of an earthquake and issuance of an alert or notification to people and vulnerable systems likely to experience potentially damaging ground shaking. The level of ground shaking that is considered damaging is defined by the specific application; for example, manufacturing equipment may experience damage at a lower intensity ground shaking than w
Authors
Elizabeth S. Cochran, Brad T. Aagaard, Richard M. Allen, Jennifer Andrews, Annemarie S. Baltay, Andrew J. Barbour, Paul Bodin, Benjamin A. Brooks, Angela Chung, Brendan W. Crowell, Doug Given, Thomas C. Hanks, J. Renate Hartog, Egill Hauksson, Thomas H. Heaton, Sara McBride, Men-Andrin Meier, Diego Melgar, Sarah E. Minson, Jessica R. Murray, Jennifer A. Strauss, Douglas Toomey
Injection-induced moment release can also be aseismic
The cumulative seismic moment is a robust measure of the earthquake response to fluid injection for injection volumes ranging from 3100 to about 12 million m3. Over this range, the moment release is limited to twice the product of the shear modulus and the volume of injected fluid. This relation also applies at the much smaller injection volumes of the field experiment in France reported by Guglie
Authors
Arthur McGarr, Andrew J. Barbour
Irregular focal mechanisms observed at Salton Sea Geothermal Field: Possible influences of anthropogenic stress perturbations
At the Salton Sea Geothermal Field (SSGF), strain accumulation is released through seismic slip and aseismic deformation. Earthquake activity at the SSGF often occurs in swarm-like clusters, some with clear migration patterns. We have identified an earthquake sequence composed entirely of focal mechanisms representing an ambiguous style of faulting, where strikes are similar but deformation occurs
Authors
Aren Crandall-Bear, Andrew J. Barbour, Martin Schoenball
Influence of pore pressure change on coseismic volumetric strain
Coseismic strain is fundamentally important for understanding crustal response to changes of stress after earthquakes. The elastic dislocation model has been widely applied to interpreting observed shear deformation caused by earthquakes. The application of the same theory to interpreting volumetric strain, however, has met with difficulty, especially in the far field of earthquakes. Predicted vol
Authors
Chi-Yuen Wang, Andrew J. Barbour
Wastewater disposal and the earthquake sequences during 2016 near Fairview, Pawnee, and Cushing, Oklahoma
Each of the three earthquake sequences in Oklahoma in 2016—Fairview, Pawnee, and Cushing—appears to have been induced by high-volume wastewater disposal within 10 km. The Fairview M5.1 main shock was part of a 2 year sequence of more than 150 events of M3, or greater; the main shock accounted for about half of the total moment. The foreshocks and aftershocks of the M5.8 Pawnee earthquake were too
Authors
Arthur F. McGarr, Andrew J. Barbour
The effects of varying injection rates in Osage County, Oklahoma, on the 2016 Mw5.8 Pawnee earthquake
The 2016 Mw 5.8 Pawnee earthquake occurred in a region with active wastewater injection into a basal formation group. Prior to the earthquake, fluid injection rates at most wells were relatively steady, but newly collected data show significant increases in injection rate in the years leading up to earthquake. For the same time period, the total volumes of injected wastewater were roughly equivale
Authors
Andrew J. Barbour, Jack H. Norbeck, Justin L. Rubinstein