Editors’ Highlights are summaries of recent papers by AGU’s journal editors.
Source: Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
Hydraulic fractures are produced naturally in regions where fluid pressures overcome in situ stresses. Humans also create such fractures artificially for the extraction of hydrocarbon, geothermal, and hydrological resources; the disposal of liquid and greenhouse gas wastes; and the quantitative determination of crustal stress magnitudes. There is a large amount of literature on this topic, but there remain few experimental validations of theoretical concepts.
Lu et al. [2024] provide some unique results that show how rock anisotropy, pervasive in the crust but usually ignored, affects the growth of such fractures. In particular, layering will assist in focusing the fracture growth in a horizontal direction. This is an important finding as it has potential implications for the efficient and safe operation of hydraulic fracturing operations.
Citation: Lu, G., Momeni, S., Peruzzo, C., Moukhtari, F.-E., & Lecampion, B. (2024). Rock anisotropy promotes hydraulic fracture containment at depth. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 129, e2023JB028011. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JB028011
—Douglas R. Schmitt, Editor, JGR: Solid Earth