{"id":39520,"date":"2015-01-21T10:39:35","date_gmt":"2015-01-21T16:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=39520"},"modified":"2015-01-27T15:58:32","modified_gmt":"2015-01-27T21:58:32","slug":"us-geological-survey-to-increase-earthquakes-risk-levels-in-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2015\/01\/21\/us-geological-survey-to-increase-earthquakes-risk-levels-in-texas\/","title":{"rendered":"US Geological Survey to Increase Earthquake Risk Levels in Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_39522\"  class=\"wp-caption module image center\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"A current earthquake hazard map on the USGS website.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/01\/USGS-Earthquake-map1.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-39522\" alt=\"A current earthquake hazard map on the USGS website.\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/01\/USGS-Earthquake-map1-620x459.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"459\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/01\/USGS-Earthquake-map1-620x459.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/01\/USGS-Earthquake-map1-300x222.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/01\/USGS-Earthquake-map1.jpg 1141w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Courtesy of the USGS.<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A current earthquake hazard map on the USGS website.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A seismic hazard map is essentially what it sounds like \u2013 a map that shows the potential for earthquakes in certain areas. \u00a0The maps give people a sense of the likelihood of earthquakes occurring, where they might occur, and how strong they might be.\u00a0 The maps can influence everything from public policy to building codes to insurance rates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey govern hundreds of billions of dollars in constructions and insurance cost every year,\u201d says Mark Peterson, project chief of the USGS\u2019s National Seismic Hazard Mapping project.<\/p>\n<p>So it\u2019s worth noting that the USGS plans to update the maps for Texas (and other parts of the country) to account for an increase in man-made earthquakes.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/187156694&amp;color=ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" height=\"166\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><!--more-->The changes to the Texas maps come after a large increase in quakes in certain parts of the state, many of them thought to be caused by oil and gas drilling activity. <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2014\/05\/12\/heres-9-studies-showing-a-link-between-quakes-and-drilling-activity-in-texas\/\">Studies have shown<\/a> how the injection of oil and gas drilling waste into the ground can cause quakes. Other quakes may be caused by fracking itself or by enhanced oil recovery. These quakes are often called \u201cman-made\u201d or \u201cinduced\u201d earthquakes.<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"related-content alignleft\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2015\/01\/08\/whats-behind-the-earthquakes-in-dallas\/\">What&#8217;s Behind the Earthquakes in Dallas?<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2015\/01\/05\/amid-a-new-swarm-in-quakes-researchers-head-to-irving\/\">Amid a New Swarm of Quakes, Researchers Head to Irving<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2014\/10\/28\/responding-to-quakes-texas-passes-disposal-well-rules\/\">Responding to Quakes, Texas Passes Disposal Well Rules<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/07\/109445102.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/topic\/earthquake\/\">How Oil and Gas Disposal Wells Can Cause Earthquakes<\/a><\/p><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/11\/Class1Wells-60x60.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/topic\/injection-well\/\">How Do Disposal Wells Work?<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>Earthquakes \u201cswarms\u201d near Dallas have garnered a lot of attention. But Peterson says they are a small part of a bigger picture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are several places in Texas we\u2019re monitoring increases in seismic activity.\u201d Peterson says. \u201cThese include Cogdell [in Snyder], Fashing, Timpson, Azle and the Dallas Fort Worth Area.\u201d<b> <\/b><\/p>\n<p>While almost all of these quakes have been weak ones, some have caused damage.<\/p>\n<p>Peterson says the largest likely manmade earthquake he knows of was a 5.6 in Oklahoma. In 2014 a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.livescience.com\/43953-wastewater-injection-earthquake-triggering.html\" target=\"_blank\">study published in the Journal of Geological Research<\/a> indicated that the quake was caused by a series of smaller quakes that were caused by injection. The earthquake was the largest Oklahoma had ever seen.<\/p>\n<p>In Texas, property owners have blamed foundation and chimney damage on quakes. Officials from the town of Timpson said a quake there damaged its water well causing hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage.<\/p>\n<p>But there are still a lot questions when it comes to how manmade quakes work. \u00a0How long do they continue if the activity that caused them is put on hold? Can they get stronger? Can human activity in one place cause the earth to move far from where that activity took place? All of those unknowns make them difficult to forecast.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_39531\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"The current map delineates &quot;non-tectonic&quot; quake activity in areas where man-made earthquakes have been studied. \" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/01\/USGS-Earthquake-map3.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-39531\" alt=\"The current map delineates &quot;non-tectonic&quot; quake activity in areas where man-made earthquakes have been studied. \" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/01\/USGS-Earthquake-map3-300x155.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"155\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/01\/USGS-Earthquake-map3-300x155.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/01\/USGS-Earthquake-map3-620x321.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/01\/USGS-Earthquake-map3.jpg 625w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\"> <\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The current map delineates &quot;non-tectonic&quot; quake activity in areas where man-made earthquakes have been studied.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not easy in the case of induced seismicity. The seismicity models seem to change very rapidly, and they change based on financial decisions, economic decisions, and public policy decisions,\u201d Peterson says. \u201cAnd that makes it difficult for us to forecast the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Peterson the new maps will be based on shorter periods of time so that predictions and decisions can be made based on seismic projections for the next year in advance.<\/p>\n<p>Maps updated in 2014 did indicate areas of \u201cnontectonic\u201d induced earthquake activity in Texas. But Peterson says the new maps will makes those distinctions clearer. In initially, they will include different forecast scenarios based on different theories about man-made quakes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo we\u2019re playing with different input parameters trying to understand what the impacts would be for hazard,\u201d he says. \u00a0\u201cIn the end we need to make some final decisions on what we want to say to the public about these different models, and what the USGS feels like is the best available science in this area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He expects that preliminary maps including different scenarios for earthquake hazard in the next few months. \u00a0A final model would be coming out after that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that people need to be aware that there is an earthquake risk associated with these induced earthquakes,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A seismic hazard map is essentially what it sounds like \u2013 a map that shows the potential for earthquakes in certain areas. \u00a0The maps give people a sense of the likelihood of earthquakes occurring, where they might occur, and how strong they might be.\u00a0 The maps can influence everything from public policy to building codes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39520"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39520"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39584,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39520\/revisions\/39584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}