Two earthquakes with the moment magnitude of 3.9 and 4.1 occurred in January 2015 and January 2016 near the Crooked Lake region, Alberta. Both earthquakes were attributed to the hydraulic fracturing operations of three horizontal wells located at the same well-pad. The underlying mechanisms of both earthquakes are still unclear and required to be investigated to mitigate risks of future seismicity in this region. In this study, the coupled simulations of the fluid flow and geomechanics were conducted to characterize the temporal and spatial evolution of pore pressure diffusion and stress perturbation during and after hydraulic fracturing operations. The Coulomb Failure Stress along the pre-existing fault near the horizontal wells were then calculated to study the reactivation of the fault. Sensitivity analysis was finally conducted to understand the effects of the fault's orientation, injection layer permeability, and distance between the fault and hydraulic fractures on the induced seismicity. The results showed that one North-South-oriented fault was activated twice after the sequential fracturing operations of three horizontal wells in 2015 and 2016. The Mw 3.9 earthquake was triggered by the stress and pore pressure changes that activated the fault in the basement. The relatively long-time interval between the stimulation and the induced earthquake was attributed to the low permeability and geomechanics property from the injection layer to the fault. The subsequent Mw 4.1 event was triggered by the direct connection between the hydraulic fractures, natural fractures, and the fault. Sensitivity analysis has suggested that the activation of faults were susceptible to the proximity between stimulated well and seismogenic faults, low permeability of the injection layer, and the low angle between the fault strike and the maximum horizontal stress.

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