Man-made earthquakes will continue to shake the country

Oil and natural gas drilling cause earthquakes, and quakes trigger more quakes. It’s already a big problem in Oklahoma. Now, with the new pipelines reviving Canada’s oil industry, Alberta and Saskatchewan's "induced earthquake problems" will likely escalate too.

Man-made earthquakes will continue to shake the country

Oil and natural gas drilling is still shaking things up

..."...we’ve had more magnitude 5 earthquakes in Oklahoma than ever before.”

...Human-induced earthquakes are caused primarily by wastewater from oil and gas drilling operations being injected deep into the ground.

...A study published last December showed that reducing the amount of wastewater injections in Oklahoma could decrease the frequency of earthquakes, but also showed that in some ways, the damage has already been done. Wastewater from previous injections remains in the earth, raising the pressure underground and lubricating faults ready to break. That means that even as the number of earthquakes goes down, the risk of large earthquakes will still remain high for some time.

...The large earthquakes that occurred last year in Oklahoma all occurred within the area that the USGS researchers forecasted would have the highest likelihood of earthquake damage in 2016.

On ATS:

Quakes trigger Quakes

Really the pipeline will just take the loads off the railroad. Same amount of oil just different transportation method.

Jumping in to say "thank you" to ATS for having these forums. I honestly thought I was going insane when the tremors started here in Northern St Louis. Thanks to ATS, I found the tremors (actually shivers) were related to test drills hundreds of miles away. The plate my area is on was somehow connected.
We have cracks in the walls from the tremors.
I began contacting USGS every time we had a tremor. Others on this forum began posting video, posting times of quakes, and making note of explorations by oil companies in their areas.

It was exploratory oil work (I won't say it is fracking). Once the heat was applied, the company did surmise this area (I think Arkansas) was not good for intense oil "harvest".

My heart goes out to everyone who will have to deal with this. Farm animals react badly to these tremors and produce less. Pets act strange. Humans get nausea, imbalance issues, and (some cases) needless doctor visits and drugs.

It was a horrible time for my household. I plan to keep an eye on this.

originally posted by: mikell
Really the pipeline will just take the loads off the railroad. Same amount of oil just different transportation method.

Huh? And this relates how?

Oil and natural gas drilling cause earthquakes, and quakes trigger more quakes. It’s already a big problem in Oklahoma. Now, with the new pipelines reviving Canada’s oil industry, Alberta and Saskatchewan's "induced earthquake problems" will likely escalate too.




Do not get me started on the leaks related to transportation!

They have been fracking wells since 1948 and for the first 50 years there were no quakes, only since the Global Warming guys got on board ( the last 19 years ) they are now calling them man-made.

There is no doubt that massive seismic activity as well as planetary weather change is under way, but humans have no part in it other than being on the receiving end.

a reply to: flatbush71

Sources please.

[Real ones.]

Why are people surprised about this! We've been campaigning against fracking in the UK for years because of tremors, no-one listens!

originally posted by: Lulzaroonie
Why are people surprised about this! We've been campaigning against fracking in the UK for years because of tremors, no-one listens!

It's not just fracking!

Drilling for oil and gas causes quakes - then the quakes trigger more quakes.

originally posted by: soficrow

originally posted by: Lulzaroonie
Why are people surprised about this! We've been campaigning against fracking in the UK for years because of tremors, no-one listens!

It's not just fracking!

Drilling for oil and gas causes quakes - then the quakes trigger more quakes.

Been drilling for oil for a while now, doesn't seem to be a problem.

originally posted by: D8Tee

originally posted by: soficrow

originally posted by: Lulzaroonie
Why are people surprised about this! We've been campaigning against fracking in the UK for years because of tremors, no-one listens!

It's not just fracking!

Drilling for oil and gas causes quakes - then the quakes trigger more quakes.

Been drilling for oil for a while now, doesn't seem to be a problem.

lol. Seems you're not paying attention.

It's old news.

Wonder if this will set off the New Madrid fault?

“I have never seen anything like it anywhere in the world,” said a USGS scientist about Oklahoma’s earthquakes, which have increased in number and intensity at an exponential rate:

According to Daniel McNamara, a research geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey, the state has already seen five earthquakes of a 4.0 or greater in 2016, which is double the monthly rate for 2015…. [in less than two weeks] “I don’t know what to say frankly. It’s incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it anywhere in the world. The only time you get this kind of activity might be after a very large earthquake, like a seven or eight (magnitude) in a place like Nepal or China or Indonesia or in volcanic regions.”

-Source

Fighting against it:

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- An Oklahoma-based Native American tribe filed a lawsuit in its own tribal court system Friday accusing several oil companies of triggering the state's largest earthquake that caused extensive damage to some near-century-old tribal buildings. The Pawnee Nation alleges in the suit that wastewater injected into wells operated by the defendants caused the 5.8-magnitude quake in September and is seeking physical damages to real and personal property, market value losses, as well as punitive damages.

-Source

a reply to: dreamingawake

What caused the 1882 and 1952 quakes?

originally posted by: flatbush71
They have been fracking wells since 1948 and for the first 50 years there were no quakes, only since the Global Warming guys got on board ( the last 19 years ) they are now calling them man-made.

There is no doubt that massive seismic activity as well as planetary weather change is under way, but humans have no part in it other than being on the receiving end.

There's something i can agree with....

originally posted by: flatbush71
They have been fracking wells since 1948 and for the first 50 years there were no quakes, only since the Global Warming guys got on board ( the last 19 years ) they are now calling them man-made.

There is no doubt that massive seismic activity as well as planetary weather change is under way, but humans have no part in it other than being on the receiving end.

While I do agree with you, I'd like to point out that the fracking that is done on a horizontally landed well is quite different from the older vertical wells. Horizontal drilling and fracking the resultant well has only become popular since the 1990's. The difference being that a considerably larger section of formation is fracked. Industry has to have effective regulation. The model that Alberta has developed works well, the USA would do well to look that direction.

a reply to: D8Tee

Of interest:

Induced Earthquakes

Myths and Misconceptions

Fact 1: Fracking is NOT causing most of the induced earthquakes. Wastewater disposal is the primary cause of the recent increase in earthquakes in the central United States. ...

Fact 3: Wastewater is produced at all oil wells, not just hydraulic fracturing sites. Most wastewater currently disposed of across the nation is generated and produced in the process of oil and gas extraction. ...

Fact 5: Induced seismicity can occur at significant distances from injection wells and at different depths.
...

Fact 6: Wells not requiring surface pressure to inject wastewater can still induce earthquakes.
...

a reply to: soficrow

Produced water disposal wells been around for a long time. Dunno if there is a direct cause and effect relationship that can be proven between them and earthquakes. From your source:

Is there any possibility that a wastewater injection activity could interact with a nearby fault to trigger a major earthquake that causes extensive damage over a broad region?
So far, there is no conclusive example linking injection operations to triggering of major earthquakes, however we cannot eliminate this possibility.

a reply to: D8Tee

Good grief! Don't know where you got your bs info, but not from my usgs link.

Ed to add: Ahhh. I see - from a different paper.

MY link:

Induced Earthquakes

Myths and Misconceptions
What you do and don’t know about induced seismicity

Fact 1: Fracking is NOT causing most of the induced earthquakes. Wastewater disposal is the primary cause of the recent increase in earthquakes in the central United States.
Wastewater disposal wells typically operate for longer durations and inject much more fluid than hydraulic fracturing, making them more likely to induce earthquakes. Enhanced oil recovery injects fluid into rock layers where oil and gas have already been extracted, while wastewater injection often occurs in never-before-touched rocks. Therefore, wastewater injection can raise pressure levels more than enhanced oil recovery, and thus increases the likelihood of induced earthquakes.

Fact 2: Not all wastewater injection wells induce earthquakes.
Most injection wells are not associated with felt earthquakes. A combination of many factors is necessary for injection to induce felt earthquakes. These include: the injection rate and total volume injected; the presence of faults that are large enough to produce felt earthquakes; stresses that are large enough to produce earthquakes; and the presence of pathways for the fluid pressure to travel from the injection point to faults.

Fact 3: Wastewater is produced at all oil wells, not just hydraulic fracturing sites.
Most wastewater currently disposed of across the nation is generated and produced in the process of oil and gas extraction. As discussed above, saltwater is produced as a byproduct during the extraction process. This wastewater is found at nearly every oil and gas extraction well.

The other main constituent of wastewater is leftover hydraulic fracturing fluid. Once hydraulic fracturing is completed, drilling engineers extract the fluids that are remaining in the well. Some of this recovered hydraulic fracturing fluid is used in subsequent fracking operations, while some of it is disposed of in deep wells.

Fact 4: The content of the wastewater injected in disposal wells is highly variable.
In many locations, wastewater has little or nothing to do with hydraulic fracturing. In Oklahoma, less than 10% of the water injected into wastewater disposal wells is used hydraulic fracturing fluid. Most of the wastewater in Oklahoma is saltwater that comes up along with oil during the extraction process.

In contrast, the fluid disposed of near earthquake sequences that occurred in Youngstown, Ohio, and Guy, Arkansas, consisted largely of spent hydraulic fracturing fluid.

Fact 5: Induced seismicity can occur at significant distances from injection wells and at different depths.
Seismicity can be induced at distances of 10 miles or more away from the injection point and at significantly greater depths than the injection point.

Fact 6: Wells not requiring surface pressure to inject wastewater can still induce earthquakes.
Wells where you can pour fluid down the well without added pressure at the wellhead still increase the fluid pressure within the formation and thus can induce earthquakes.

DBTee's link:





Jeez.

a reply to: soficrow

Jeez.

Not sure what your issue with the info I provided is?
It's a direct link from your 'paper' as you call it, sorry it contradicts your narrative.
Same source, USGS.
I do agree that industry practices need better regulation and oversight.
Downhole pressures and known fault zones need to be considered, letting industry alone call the shots will not work.

a reply to: D8Tee

You cherrypicked 1 paper of 8 with a very specific question that was not directly related, and misrepresented it as contradicting the OP cited article. It doesn't.

Ah, just saw your edit. Thanks for the clarification.

Earthquakes Induced by Fluid Injection

Do all wastewater disposal wells induce earthquakes?
No. Of more than 150,000 Class II injection wells in the United States, roughly 40,000 are waste fluid disposal wells for oil and gas operations.
MORE

Is it possible to anticipate whether a planned wastewater disposal activity will trigger earthquakes that are large enough to be of concern?
Currently, there are no methods available to do this.
MORE
How does the injection of wastewater at depth cause earthquakes?
Earth's crust is pervasively fractured at depth by faults.
MORE

How large are the earthquakes induced by fluid injection?
The largest earthquake induced by fluid injection that has been documented in the scientific literature was the November 6, 2011 earthquake in central Oklahoma. It had a magnitude of 5.6. Earlier that year, a magnitude 5.3 earthquake was induced by fluid injection in the Raton Basin, Colorado. Earthquakes with magnitudes between 4.5 and 5.0 have been induced by fluid injection in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.
MORE

Are earthquakes induced by fluid-injection activities always located close to the point of injection?
No. Given enough time, the pressure increase created by injection can migrate substantial horizontal and vertical distances from the injection location. Induced earthquakes commonly occur several kilometers below the injection point.
MORE

Is there any possibility that a wastewater injection activity could interact with a nearby fault to trigger a major earthquake that causes extensive damage over a broad region?
So far, there is no conclusive example linking injection operations to triggering of major earthquakes, however we cannot eliminate this possibility.
MORE

Does the production of natural gas from shales cause earthquakes? If so, how are the earthquakes related to these operations?
To produce natural gas from shale formations, it is necessary to increase the interconnectedness of the pore space (permeability) of the shale so that the gas can flow through the rock mass and be extracted through production wells.
MORE

What work is the USGS doing to better understand the occurrence of injection-induced earthquakes?
USGS supports both internal and external (university-based) research on the causes of induced earthquakes.
MORE

Oklahoma now has more earthquakes on a regular basis than California. Are they due to fracking?
In a few cases, yes, but in most cases no. The majority of the earthquakes in Oklahoma since 2011 occur in areas where oil is being produced by pumping massive volumes of water out of naturally fractured formations to extract much smaller volumes of oil. Most of the wells used to access the oil are completed without being fracked. The natural formation water that comes to the surface with the oil is too saline to be released into the environment. Disposal by injection into deep formations is currently the most common method of disposal. Injecting large volumes of water into the deep sedimentary formations raises the pore pressure over large areas that can induce earthquakes.
MORE

a reply to: soficrow

You cherrypicked 1 paper of 8 with a very specific question that was not directly related, and misrepresented it as contradicting the OP cited article. It doesn't.

Quit calling them papers. They aren't research papers.
It's an online FAQ from the USGS.

edit: There are plenty of papers that will show a link between faulty oilfield disposal practices and induced seismic events.
Same goes for fracking, it needs to be regulated, it's not for everywhere.