All Issue

2025 Vol.27, Issue 5 Preview Page

Research Paper

Unsupervised learning-based clustering analysis of IBDP microseismic data and associated geological features

비지도학습 기반 클러스터링 모델을 활용한 IBDP 미소지진 데이터의 지질특성 연계 분석

Hyeontae Park1
,
Kibeom Kwon2
,
Kiseok Kim3
,
Hangseok Choi4
,
Sangyeong Park5*
박 현태1
,
권 기범2
,
김 기석3
,
최 항석4
,
박 상영5*
1Ph.D. Student, Dept. of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, Korea University
2Researcher, Future and Fusion Lab of Architectural, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Korea University
3Assistant Professor, Dept. of Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University
4Professor, School of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, Korea University
5Research Professor, Future and Fusion Lab of Architectural, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Korea University
1정회원, 고려대학교 건축사회환경공학과 박사과정
2정회원, 고려대학교 미래건설환경융합연구소 연구원
3비회원, Texas A&M University 조교수
4정회원, 고려대학교 건축사회환경공학부 교수
5정회원, 고려대학교 미래건설환경융합연구소 연구교수
*Corresponding Author
30 September 2025. pp. 349-365
PDF XML Citation
Abstract

This study applied an unsupervised K-means clustering algorithm to classify 4,171 microseismic events recorded during the Illinois Basin-Decatur Project (IBDP) based on their spatiotemporal and magnitude characteristics. The input features included elapsed time, spatial coordinates (easting, northing, and depth), and magnitude. The optimal number of clusters was determined to be five using the elbow method. Each cluster exhibited distinct patterns in terms of timing, spatial distribution, and seismic magnitude. While some clusters were concentrated near the injection well, others included events that occurred several kilometers away. The clustering results provide a qualitative understanding of the spatial and temporal behavior of the geological formation and serve as a basis for interpreting post-injection seismicity. The proposed approach offers a useful framework for analyzing microseismic data and supports future assessments of geomechanical stability in CO2 storage projects.

Keywords
CO2 storage
IBDP
K-means clustering
Microseismicity

본 연구는 Illinois Basin-Decatur Project (IBDP)에서 기록된 4,171건의 미소지진 데이터를 대상으로, 시공간 및 규모 특성에 기반한 분류를 위해 비지도학습 기반 K-평균 클러스터링 기법을 적용하였다. 입력 변수로는 경과시간, 공간 좌표(easting, northing, depth), 그리고 규모가 사용되었으며, 엘보우 기법을 통해 최적 군집 수를 5로 설정하였다. 각 군집은 발생 시기, 공간 분포, 규모 특성에서 뚜렷한 차이를 보였으며, 일부 군집은 주입정 인근에 집중된 반면, 다른 군집은 수 킬로미터 떨어진 지역에서도 발생하였다. 클러스터링 결과는 지질구조의 시공간적 거동을 정성적으로 이해하는 데 기여하며, 주입 종료 이후 발생하는 미소지진 해석의 기초자료로 활용될 수 있다. 제안된 분석 기법은 미소지진 데이터의 체계적 분류에 유용하며, 향후 이산화탄소 저장소의 지반 안정성 평가를 지원할 수 있을 것이다.

키워드
이산화탄소 저장
IBDP
K-평균 클러스터링
미소지진
References
1

Babarinde, O., Okwen, R., Frailey, S., Yang, F., Whittaker, S., Sweet, D. (2021), “A workflow to assess the efficacy of brine extraction for managing injection-induced seismicity potential using data from a CO2 injection site near Decatur, Illinois”, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Vol. 109, 103393.

10.1016/j.ijggc.2021.103393
2

Bashir, A., Ali, M., Patil, S., Aljawad, M.S., Mahmoud, M., Al-Shehri, D., Hoteit, H., Kamal, M.S. (2024), “Comprehensive review of CO2 geological storage: Exploring principles, mechanisms, and prospects”, Earth-Science Reviews, Vol. 249, 104672.

10.1016/j.earscirev.2023.104672
3

Bauer, R.A., Carney, M., Finley, R.J. (2016), “Overview of microseismic response to CO2 injection into the Mt. Simon saline reservoir at the Illinois Basin-Decatur Project”, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Vol. 54, pp. 378-388.

10.1016/j.ijggc.2015.12.015
4

Bauer, R.A., Will, R., Greenberg, S.E., Whittaker, S.G. (2019), “Illinois basin-Decatur project”, Geophysics and Geosequestration, Cambridge University Press, New York, pp. 339-369.

10.1017/9781316480724.020
5

Blakley, C., Carman, C., Korose, C., Luman, D., Zimmerman, J., Frish, M., Dobler, J., Blume, N., Zaccheo, S. (2020), “Application of emerging monitoring techniques at the Illinois Basin-Decatur Project”, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Vol. 103, 103188.

10.1016/j.ijggc.2020.103188
6

Bondarenko, N., Podladchikov, Y., Williams-Stroud, S., Makhnenko, R. (2025), “Stratigraphy-induced localization of microseismicity during CO2 injection in Illinois Basin”, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, Vol. 130, No. 3, e2024JB029526.

10.1029/2024JB029526
7

Cappa, F., Guglielmi, Y., Nussbaum, C., De Barros, L., Birkholzer, J. (2022), “Fluid migration in low-permeability faults driven by decoupling of fault slip and opening”, Nature Geoscience, Vol. 15, No. 9, pp. 747-751.

10.1038/s41561-022-00993-4
8

Cheng, Y., Liu, W., Xu, T., Zhang, Y., Zhang, X., Xing, Y., Feng, B., Xia, Y. (2023), “Seismicity induced by geological CO2 storage: A review”, Earth-Science Reviews, Vol. 239, 104369.

10.1016/j.earscirev.2023.104369
9

Choi, Y.S. (2011), “How sensitive in the earth climate to a runaway carbon dioxide?”, Journal of Korean Earth Science Society, Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 239-247.

10.5467/JKESS.2011.32.2.239
10

CO2DataShare, Illinois Basin - Decatur Project (IBDP) Dataset, https://co2datashare.org/dataset/illinois-basin-decatur-project-dataset (July 1, 2025).

11

Couëslan, M.L., Butsch, R., Will, R., Locke II, R.A. (2014), “Integrated reservoir monitoring at the Illinois Basin-Decatur Project”, Energy Procedia, Vol. 63, pp. 2836-2847.

10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.306
12

Cui, M. (2020), “Introduction to the K-means clustering algorithm based on the elbow method”, Accounting, Auditing and Finance, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 5-8.

10.23977/accaf.2020.010102
13

Dando, B.D.E., Goertz-Allmann, B.P., Kühn, D., Langet, N., Dichiarante, A.M., Oye, V. (2021), “Relocating microseismicity from downhole monitoring of the Decatur CCS site using a modified double-difference algorithm”, Geophysical Journal International, Vol. 227, No. 2, pp. 1094-1122.

10.1093/gji/ggab255
14

Dziejarski, B., Krzyżyńska, R., Andersson, K. (2023), “Current status of carbon capture, utilization, and storage technologies in the global economy: A survey of technical assessment”, Fuel, Vol. 342, 127776.

10.1016/j.fuel.2023.127776
15

Finley, R.J. (2014), “An overview of the Illinois Basin-Decatur project”, Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology, Vol. 4, No. 5, pp. 571-579.

10.1002/ghg.1433
16

Freiburg, J.T., Morse, D.G., Leetaru, H.E., Hoss, R.P., Yan, Q. (2014), A depositional and diagenetic characterization of the Mt. Simon sandstone at the Illinois Basin-Decatur Project carbon capture and storage site, Decatur, Illinois, USA, Illinois State Geological Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois.

17

Gang, S., Jung, J. (2023), “Enhancing carbon dioxide storage efficiency in aquifers through surfactant application”, Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society, Vol. 39, No. 11, pp. 63-70.

10.7843/KGS.2023.39.11.63
18

Goertz-Allmann, B.P., Kühn, D., Oye, V., Bohloli, B., Aker, E. (2014), “Combining microseismic and geomechanical observations to interpret storage integrity at the In Salah CCS site”, Geophysical Journal International, Vol. 198, No. 1, pp. 447-461.

10.1093/gji/ggu010
19

Iyegbekedo, I., Fathi, E., Carr, T.R., Belyadi, F. (2024), “Machine learning-driven quantification of CO2 plume dynamics at Illinois Basin Decatur Project sites using microseismic data”, Energies, Vol. 17, No. 17, 4421.

10.3390/en17174421
20

Jia, Y., Ma, J. (2017), “What can machine learning do for seismic data processing? An interpolation application”, Geophysics, Vol. 82, No. 3, pp. V163-V177.

10.1190/geo2016-0300.1
21

Kaven, J.O., Hickman, S.H., McGarr, A.F., Ellsworth, W.L. (2015), “Surface monitoring of microseismicity at the Decatur, Illinois, CO2 sequestration demonstration site”, Seismological Research Letters, Vol. 86, No. 4, pp. 1096-1101.

10.1785/0220150062
22

Kim, Y.S., Kim, J.H., Kim, T.H., Lee, J.K. (2014), “Comparison between soil drainage experiment and finite element analysis for air diffusion in multiphase porous media”, Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 77-85.

10.7843/kgs.2014.30.2.77
23

Langet, N., Goertz-Allmann, B., Oye, V., Bauer, R.A., Williams-Stroud, S., Dichiarante, A.M., Greenberg, S.E. (2020), “Joint focal mechanism inversion using downhole and surface monitoring at the Decatur, Illinois, CO2 injection site”, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 110, No. 5, pp. 2168-2187.

10.1785/0120200075
24

Lizama Molina, D.A., Yoon, H. (2020), Supervised machine learning application for event detection in induced microseismic data (No. SAND2020-13142C), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM).

10.2172/1833166
25

Makhnenko, R.Y., Bondarenko, N.B., Kim, K., Whittaker, S. (2020), “Laboratory modeling of induced microseismicity in the Illinois Basin”, Proceedings of the 54th US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, Houston, pp. 2020-2040.

26

Meng, L., Zheng, J., Yang, R., Peng, S., Sun, Y., Xie, J., Li, D. (2023), “Microseismic monitoring technology developments and prospects in CCUS injection engineering”, Energies, Vol. 16, No. 7, 3101.

10.3390/en16073101
27

Molina, O.M., Zeidouni, M. (2018), “Analytical model to detect fault permeability alteration induced by fault reactivation in compartmentalized reservoirs”, Water Resources Research, Vol. 54, No. 8, pp. 5841-5855.

10.1029/2018WR022872
28

Ortiz, J.P., Person, M.A., Mozley, P.S., Evans, J.P., Bilek, S.L. (2019), “The role of fault-zone architectural elements on pore pressure propagation and induced seismicity”, Groundwater, Vol. 57, No. 3, pp. 465-478.

10.1111/gwat.12818
29

Rathmaier, D., Naim, F., William, A.C., Chakraborty, D., Conwell, C., Imhof, M., Holmes, G.M., Zerpa, L.E. (2024), “A reservoir modeling study for the evaluation of CO2 storage upscaling at the decatur site in the Eastern Illinois Basin”, Energies, Vol. 17, No. 5, 1212.

10.3390/en17051212
30

Seo, S., Kim, G., Woo, Y., Park, B., Kim, J., Kim, S.H., Chung, M. (2024), “Assessment of risk levels in cut-slope using dimensionality reduction and clustering analysis”, Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society, Vol. 40, No. 5, pp. 113-129.

10.7843/KGS.2024.40.5.113
31

Shin, H., Yoon, S. (2022), “Numerical formulation of thermo-hydro-mechanical interface element”, Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society, Vol. 38, No. 9, pp. 45-52.

10.7843/KGS.2022.38.9.45
32

Sinaga, K.P., Yang, M.S. (2020), “Unsupervised K-means clustering algorithm”, IEEE Access, Vol. 8, pp. 80716-80727.

10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2988796
33

Spurio Mancini, A., Piras, D., Ferreira, A.M.G., Hobson, M.P., Joachimi, B. (2021), “Accelerating Bayesian microseismic event location with deep learning”, Solid Earth Discussions, 2021, pp. 1683-1705.

10.5194/se-12-1683-2021
34

Stork, A.L., Verdon, J.P., Kendall, J.M. (2015), “The microseismic response at the In Salah Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) site”, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Vol. 32, pp. 159-171.

10.1016/j.ijggc.2014.11.014
35

Streibel, M., Finley, R.J., Martens, S., Greenberg, S., Möller, F., Liebscher, A. (2014), “From pilot to demo scale-Comparing Ketzin results with the Illinois Basin-Decatur project”, Energy Procedia, Vol. 63, pp. 6323-6334.

10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.665
36

Verdon, J.P. (2016), “Using microseismic data recorded at the Weyburn CCS-EOR site to assess the likelihood of induced seismic activity”, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Vol. 54, pp. 421-428.

10.1016/j.ijggc.2016.03.018
37

Vilarrasa, V., Makhnenko, R., Gheibi, S. (2016), “Geomechanical analysis of the influence of CO2 injection location on fault stability”, Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Vol. 8, No. 6, pp. 805-818.

10.1016/j.jrmge.2016.06.006
38

Will, R., El-Kaseeh, G., Jaques, P., Carney, M., Greenberg, S., Finley, R. (2016), “Microseismic data acquisition, processing, and event characterization at the Illinois Basin-Decatur Project”, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Vol. 54, pp. 404-420.

10.1016/j.ijggc.2016.01.007
39

Williams-Stroud, S., Bauer, R., Leetaru, H., Oye, V., Stanek, F., Greenberg, S., Langet, N. (2020), “Analysis of microseismicity and reactivated fault size to assess the potential for felt events by CO2 injection in the Illinois Basin”, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 110, No. 5, pp. 2188-2204.

10.1785/0120200112
40

Willis, R.M., Yoon, H., Silva, J.A., Juanes, R., Williams-Stroud, S., Frailey, S.M. (2025), “Unsupervised clustering of microseismic events and focal mechanism analysis at the CO2 injection site in Decatur, Illinois”, Journal of Geophysical Research: Machine Learning and Computation, Vol. 2, No. 3, e2024JH000544.

10.1029/2024JH000544
41

Wongoutong, C. (2024), “The impact of neglecting feature scaling in k-means clustering”, PLoS ONE, Vol. 19, No. 12, e0310839.

10.1371/journal.pone.031083939642177PMC11623793
42

Yang, Y., Saad, O.M., Alkhalifah, T. (2024), “Deep learning-based 3D microseismic event direct location using simultaneous surface and borehole data”, Journal of Geophysical Research: Machine Learning and Computation, Vol. 1, No. 4, e2024JH000365.

10.1029/2024JH000365
Information
  • Publisher :Korean Tunneling and Underground Space Association
  • Publisher(Ko) :한국터널지하공간학회
  • Journal Title :Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
  • Journal Title(Ko) :한국터널지하공간학회 논문집
  • Volume : 27
  • No :5
  • Pages :349-365
  • Received Date : 2025-08-04
  • Revised Date : 2025-08-27
  • Accepted Date : 2025-08-28
  • DOI :https://doi.org/10.9711/KTAJ.2025.27.5.349
Journal Informaiton Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
Online Submission & Review System
  • NRF
  • KOFST
  • KISTI Current Status
  • KISTI Cited-by
  • crosscheck
  • orcid
  • open access
  • ccl
Journal Informaiton Journal Informaiton - close