SCI/TECH: Federal Water Facility Responsible For Earthquakes.

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.



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]

While this information is interesting and could be relavent to people near these areas, i wonder why this is unexpected?

We've all played with the garden hose and know what happens when you pump water into the ground...it tunnels away dirt and can cause things to settle.

Also the first post states,

This is obviously more evidence that human activities do have a negative effect on the Earth's environment and the natural processes.

Why is the conclusion that this human activity has a "negative effect"? Arent earthquakes part of the natural geologic process? Why is an earthquake considered harmful? (just because it can wreck human activities?)

Yes, the fact that mans activities indeed have an impact on the environment should be a no brainer..but this is really citing POTENTIAL for negative impacts but leaves you guessing what they are.

[edit on 15-11-2004 by CazMedia]

So, you believe that causing more earthquakes and to possibly destabilize some parts of the Earth's mantle/crust is good?

Imagine the impact these frequent earthquakes will have on the damns in those areas such as the following which is in the Dolores River.



If one or several of those damns recieve damage due to the "artificially influenced earthquakes" you think it will be good? or it won't have a negative impact?

[edit on 16-11-2004 by Muaddib]

As long as these dams aren't located on top of fault-lines, then they should be fine. I can't imagine that this is going to cause any large earthquakes. If anything, this process might be relieving pressure along those faults and preventing larger quakes in the future. This may also propse a new way to relieve that pressure that exists in some of the more problematic fault-lines.

Originally posted by veritas93
As long as these dams aren't located on top of fault-lines, then they should be fine. I can't imagine that this is going to cause any large earthquakes. If anything, this process might be relieving pressure along those faults and preventing larger quakes in the future. This may also propse a new way to relieve that pressure that exists in some of the more problematic fault-lines.

Ah, i see...so excavating larger "holes" and as long as they "hope" that it will only help relieve pressure, and not cause any additional damage to those damns, or cause worse earthquakes is alright....because you think you can control earthquakes...

Have you ever seen the damage that water erosion can make on roads making sinkholes and other problems like landslides?....

I am highly skeptic we can actually control the weather, or any of the Earth's natural processes....

Originally posted by Muaddib
as long as they "hope" that it will only help relieve pressure, and not cause any additional damage to those damns, or cause worse earthquakes is alright....because you think you can control earthquakes...

Well, most major technological advances have their dangers. Does this mean that we should abandon science and never try anything risky again?

I am highly skeptic we can actually control the weather, or any of the Earth's natural processes....

I wouldn't exactly say that relieving a bit of pressure is actually "controlling" earthquakes. Do earthquakes not occur because of pressure that slowly builds in between faultlines? Would it not also be logical to assume that by relieving that pressure then large scale quakes could possibly be averted? Makes sense to me, but then again... I'm not a geologist. I was just suggesting that maybe we could learn from this.

About the dams, it has been known for a long time that the lakes behind them could cause seismic activity.
Thats the biggest concern of the Chinese Three Gorges Dam.

Chip

Originally posted by Muaddib

This is obviously more evidence that human activities do have a negative effect on the Earth's environment and the natural processes.

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.

I noticed this a while ago then lost it.

Great reporting Maudib. Thanks. ...A few other threads talk about increased seismic and geophysical activity, but without relating it to human activity.

I think this is something that needs more attention and monitoring.



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