Source of Quakes
As I reported in the previous blog entry, the midwest has seen an increase in earthquakes in recent years. In Kansas, zero earthquakes were reported in 2012, 32 in 2013 and 124 in 2014.
There has been a great deal of interest in finding out the why for the increase. Many blamed the fracking process from the oil and gas industry, a process which involves injecting fluid at pressure to open fractures to increase production. There has been some confusion. Fracking is not the problem, but the process does create the wastewater which is then injected into deep wells for disposal. It has been concluded that the injection process is the problem.
On February 4th, the Associated Press reported that one of these injection wells has been ordered shut down by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. The order followed a 4.1 magnitude earthquake with its epicenter in that area. The well was the second to be shut down since 2013.
As was reported by the USGS in the documentary "Secrets of the Earth - Man-made Earthquakes," increase in injection activities directly coincides with increases in earthquakes in northern Oklahoma.
It will be interesting to see if the decrease of injection will affect the number and magnitude of earthquakes.
The novel I'm currently working on takes the situation to the next level, what would the result be if the number of earthquakes and their magnitudes continued to increase.
To repeat a headline printed in the Wichita Eagle, "Scientists: No direct fracking-quakes link." However, a geophysicist with the Kansas Geological Survey stated that it could be to blame in South
There has been a great deal of interest in finding out the why for the increase. Many blamed the fracking process from the oil and gas industry, a process which involves injecting fluid at pressure to open fractures to increase production. There has been some confusion. Fracking is not the problem, but the process does create the wastewater which is then injected into deep wells for disposal. It has been concluded that the injection process is the problem.
On February 4th, the Associated Press reported that one of these injection wells has been ordered shut down by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. The order followed a 4.1 magnitude earthquake with its epicenter in that area. The well was the second to be shut down since 2013.
As was reported by the USGS in the documentary "Secrets of the Earth - Man-made Earthquakes," increase in injection activities directly coincides with increases in earthquakes in northern Oklahoma.
It will be interesting to see if the decrease of injection will affect the number and magnitude of earthquakes.
The novel I'm currently working on takes the situation to the next level, what would the result be if the number of earthquakes and their magnitudes continued to increase.
To repeat a headline printed in the Wichita Eagle, "Scientists: No direct fracking-quakes link." However, a geophysicist with the Kansas Geological Survey stated that it could be to blame in South
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