To increase our understanding of induced seismicity, we develop and implement methods to enhance seismic monitoring capabilities in northeastern British Columbia (NE BC). We deploy two different machine learning models to identify earthquake phases using waveform
data from regional seismic stations and utilize an earthquake database management system to streamline the construction and maintenance of an up-to-date earthquake catalogue. The completion of this study allows for a comprehensive catalogue in NE BC from 2014 to 2020 by building upon our previous
2014-2016 and 2017-2018 catalogues. The bounds of the area where earthquakes were located were between 55.5°N-60.0°N and 119.8°W-123.5°W. The earthquakes in the catalogue were initially detected by machine learning models, then reviewed by an analyst to confirm correct
identification, and finally located using the Non-Linear Location (NonLinLoc) algorithm. Two distinct sub-areas within the bounds consider different periods to supplement what was not covered in previously published reports - the Northern Montney Trend (NMT) is covered from 2017 to 2020 while the
Kiskatinaw Seismic Monitoring and Mitigation Area (KSMMA) is covered from 2019 to 2020. The two sub-areas are distinguished by the BC Oil & Gas Commission (BCOGC) due to differences in their geographic location and geology. The catalogue was produced by picking arrival phases on continuous
seismic waveforms from 51 stations operated by various organizations in the region. A total of 17,908 events passed our quality control criteria and are included in the final catalogue. Comparably, the routine Canadian National Seismograph Network (CNSN) catalogue reports 207 seismic events - all
events in the CNSN catalogue are present in our catalogue. Our catalogue benefits from the use of enhanced station coverage and improved methodology. The total number of events in our catalogue in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 were 62, 47, 9579 and 8220, respectively. The first two years correspond to
seismicity in the NMT where poor station coverage makes it difficult to detect small magnitude events. The magnitude of completeness within the KSMMA (ML = ~0.7) is significantly smaller than that obtained for the NMT (ML = ~1.4). The new catalogue is released with separate files for
origins, arrivals, and magnitudes which can be joined using the unique ID assigned to each event.
A comprehensive earthquake catalogue for northeastern British Columbia and western Alberta, 2014-2016
