{"id":7972,"date":"2012-03-30T14:34:55","date_gmt":"2012-03-30T19:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=7972"},"modified":"2012-03-30T14:35:30","modified_gmt":"2012-03-30T19:35:30","slug":"how-a-new-study-links-earthquakes-to-drilling-injection-wells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/03\/30\/how-a-new-study-links-earthquakes-to-drilling-injection-wells\/","title":{"rendered":"How a New Study Links Earthquakes to Drilling Injection Wells"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Courtesy of KQED Radio via Flickr Creative Commons.<\/p>

An injection well in Northern California, one of the most seismologically active regions in the country.<\/p><\/div>\n

A few months ago\u00a0we spoke with<\/a> Cliff Frohlich<\/a>, a\u00a0seismologist\u00a0and Associate Director of the University of Texas at Austin’s Institute for Geophysics, about the connection between a recent string of earthquakes<\/a> and hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” In the interview<\/a>, Dr. Frohlich told us that fracking can directly cause earthquakes, but only in very rare cases. \u201cIn\u00a0the last year, there have been three well-documented earthquakes that occurred during the frack job and were probably related to fracking. They were all small earthquakes \u2013 of a magnitude of 2 or 3 \u2013 and, considering that there are millions of frack jobs, fracking-related earthquakes are so\u00a0rare.”<\/p>\n

What is<\/em> causing these earthquakes, then? Deep well injection<\/a>, the method used to dispose\u00a0liquid and solid wastes <\/a>produced during the fracking process. Frohlich explained that earthquakes occur when this industrial byproduct flows into, lubricates, and provokes a fault located in a shale or coal formation.<\/p>\n

Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey<\/a>\u00a0announced Thursday that they will corroborate Frohlich’s interpretation in\u00a0a report they plan to unveil next month. (The study was the subject of an article this week in E&E EnergyWire<\/a>.) The government-sponsored researchers studied ten years of seismological data and concluded that recent earthquakes can, indeed, be attributed to deep well injection.\u00a0“A remarkable increase in the rate of [magnitude-3.0] and greater earthquakes is currently in progress,” the study’s abstract<\/a> states. “A naturally-occurring rate change of this magnitude is unprecedented outside of volcanic settings or in the absence of a main shock.”<\/p>\n

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