A process intended to decrease salt content from the Colorado river lubricates faults and provokes thousands of small earthquakes in the area,
according to scientists. A 3.9 earthquake that struck the border of Utah and Colorado this month was one of the many earthquakes caused by a federal
facilty that pumps salty water 14,000 feet into the Earth's crust. A seismic network is present in the area which records any events produced by the
injection process.
www.cnn.com
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation facility removes salt from the Dolores River, then pumps 230 gallons of brine per minute into deep wells in Utah's
Paradox Valley Area.
The facility has caused thousands of earthquakes in the area since 1991, but most have been too small for people to feel. The 3.9 quake, which struck
November 6, was felt in Grand Junction, some 60 miles away. No damage was reported.
"We have a seismic network set up for measuring and recording any events associated with the injection process, and it appears this earthquake was
one probably associated with that process," said Andy Nichols, manager of the federal facility. "Every once in a while there's a large event felt
at the surface, and this was one of those events."
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
This is obviously more evidence that human activities do have a negative effect on the Earth's environment and the natural processes.
The article continues by saying that the largest earthquake occurred in 2000, a 4.3 quake. The event in 2000 plus two more in 1999 were responsible
for government officials deciding to reduce the amount of brine pumped into the Earth's crust by a third.
There have been reports done by at elast three countries in which evidence was found that earthquakes have been caused by injection of fluids into
deep wells.
Earthquakes induced by human activity have been documented in a few locations in the United States, Japan, and Canada. The cause was injection
of fluids into deep wells for waste disposal and secondary recovery of oil, and the use of reservoirs for water supplies. Most of these earthquakes
were minor. The largest and most widely known resulted from fluid injection at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal near Denver, Colorado. In 1967, an
earthquake of magnitude 5.5 followed a series of smaller earthquakes.
Excerpted from link below.
Related News Links:
earthquake.usgs.gov
encarta.msn.com
[edit on 15-11-2004 by Banshee]
Great reporting Maudib. Thanks. ...A few other threads talk about increased seismic and geophysical activity, but without relating it to human
activity. 
