­Gas Fields and Large Shallow Seismogenic Reverse Faults Are Anticorrelated

­Gas Fields and Large Shallow Seismogenic Reverse Faults Are Anticorrelated | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article ­Gas Fields and Large Shallow Seismogenic Reverse Faults Are Anticorrelated Gianluca Valensise, Federica Donda, Alberto Tamaro, Giorgia Rosset, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-860465/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract We investigated the spatial relationships among 18 known seismogenic faults and 1,612 wells drilled for gas exploitation in the main hydrocarbon province of northern-central Italy, a unique dataset worldwide. We adopted a GIS approach and a robust statistical technique, and found a significant anticorrelation between the location of productive wells and of the considered seismogenic faults, which are generally overlain or encircled by sterile wells. Our observations suggest that (a) earthquake ruptures encompassing much of the upper crust may cause gas to be lost to the atmosphere over geological time, and that (b) reservoirs underlain by smaller or aseismic faults are more likely to be intact. These findings, which are of inherently global relevance, have crucial implications for future hydrocarbon exploitation, for assessing the seismic-aseismic behavior of large reverse faults, and for the public acceptance of underground energy storage facilities in tectonically active areas, a pillar of future low carbon energy systems. Geophysics Gas fields seismogenic faults anticorrelated relationships hydrocarbon northern-central Italy underground energy carbon energy systems Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files Supplementaryinformation.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Major revision 07 Oct, 2021 Reviews received at journal 21 Sep, 2021 Reviewers agreed at journal 05 Sep, 2021 Reviewers agreed at journal 02 Sep, 2021 Reviewers agreed at journal 02 Sep, 2021 Reviewers invited by journal 02 Sep, 2021 Editor assigned by journal 02 Sep, 2021 Editor invited by journal 02 Sep, 2021 Submission checks completed at journal 02 Sep, 2021 First submitted to journal 31 Aug, 2021 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-860465","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":49706528,"identity":"052440f6-a7e2-4dd7-96d2-71ff6fcc145e","order_by":0,"name":"Gianluca Valensise","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia - 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