map of injection-induced earthquakes

The US Geological Survey has created a map of injection wells associated with induced (manmade) earthquakes, shown with red dots below. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/03/...

The USGS document, http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2016/1035/ofr20161035.pdf , contains references to the scientific papers where researchers analyzed the connection between injection wells and earthquakes, including nearby areas such as Youngstown and Ashtabula, Ohio, as well as the US region with the most injection-induced earthquakes, Oklahoma. "In Oklahoma, for example, the natural rate of earthquakes is only one or two a year, but there have been hundreds since fracking and horizontal drilling, with the associated wastewater injection, became commonplace in the last decade."

See WP article or USGS paper for other maps.

Views: 1870

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

0ym9x5ag7ury2Permalink Reply by 0ym9x5ag7ury2 on August 22, 2016 at 2:07am

You oil & gas people are just down right rude to Paul.

In Ohio we inject into the faults at a slow enough rate to prevent earth quakes, now that they have caused a few quakes and know the injection rate to avoid. 

As far as injecting chemical laced water into the ground, it must pay well because it borders on insanity. 

Permalink Reply by Craig Cooper on August 23, 2016 at 9:15am

Ron, I can't imagine any legitimate operator intentionally injecting fluid into known & identified fault systems regardless of injection rate. The potential risks, both real & political, are too high.

Do you have any verifiable data to back up your statement? Or were you being sarcastic?

RSS

© 2024   Created by Keith Mauck (Site Publisher).   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service