Biography:
Marco started his PhD at Ruhr University Bochum in the end of 2018 in the institute of Geology, Mineralogy and Geophysics under supervision of Prof. Rebecca M. Harrington. His dissertation will focus on seismic data analysis and earthquake source studies of earthquakes near hydraulic fracturing sites. As he was born in the Ruhr area, which has been historically dominated by deep longwall mining, he became interested in mining processes and the history of coal miners at an early age. His interest led him to pursue his BSc and MSc in Geosciences in Bochum, while he cooperated with DMT GmbH in Essen in a monitoring project for his MSc thesis. This experience puts hisscientific focus on induced seismicity with respect to energy production. In addition to his research objectives, he enjoys teaching classes about applied geophysics in field areas in central Italy and southern Spain and seismic signal processing.
Project: Velocity Structure Imaging and Source Parameter Inversion Based on Seismological Observations Near Injection Sites in Dawson-Septimus Area, British Columbia
Hydraulic fracturing operations in the last decade in low-permeable tight shales of Dawson-Septimus area, British Columbia, have increased significantly. Elevated injection activity has been correlated with a number of M3+ earthquakes, including a ML 4.5 that occurred on 11/30/2018 near Dawson Creek. In his work, he is creating an earthquake catalog based on new waveform data of a local seismic deployment close to hydraulic fracturing wells. He will use a travel-time based tomographic inversion to investigate changes in in VP/VS ratios, assuming that fluid accumulation results in a weakening of the rock volume. In addition, he will estimate the source parameters of seismic moment and static stress drop and of earthquakes in the catalog using single spectrum and spectral ratios techniques, and investigate their scaling.
View Marco’s 2020 Scholarship Page
