Before 2009, Oklahoma averaged two 3.0+earthquakes a year, according to "60 Minutes." After fracking took off, we get an average of two a DAY. it's even more than that if you count the smaller quakes. This explains it: https://youtu.be/eAI_0TLRwec. We went from 20 Magnitude 30 or higher in 2009 to 890 in 2015. I was about 200 miles away from this 5.6 one (upgraded to 5.8) in 2016 https://youtu.be/HD_rDd9sRgY and felt the shaking while I was camping in my van at Quartz Mountain State Park. In 2016 there were 4200 injection wells in Oklahoma, where wastewater from extracting oil was injected back underground in a different layer, supposedly below ground water and drinking water aquifers, seeping along fault lines. USGS says fracking itself is responsible for a tiny fraction, but the wastewater injection is the main culprit. Scientific American says even if all injection stopped, quakes could be triggered for years to come. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/even-if-injection-of-fracking-wastewater-stops-quakes-wont/ Fortunately very little oil production is done in SW Oklahoma where I live.
I suspected that of my readers, you were most likely to have experienced some of this. The earthquakes that we cause or magnify with our direct activities seem to top out around magnitude 5.7. (I wasn't aware one had been upgraded to 5.8.) It's good to hear from you about what it's like in an area that is a hot spot for this. Thank you.
The whole period since the Industrial Revolution began is just a small blip on the timeline of geological processes. It's possible that melting the glaciers and raising sea level will indeed cause an increase in big earthquakes but I'm checking the data a few hundred years too soon. For the moment, it's a relief to see that major ones aren't happening more often so far. We've got plenty of other big problems already.
As for earthquakes of the type you describe, as we transition away from fossil fuels, we will drill less, pump less out and have less drilling waste to pump back in. One more reason to accelerate the transition.
Before 2009, Oklahoma averaged two 3.0+earthquakes a year, according to "60 Minutes." After fracking took off, we get an average of two a DAY. it's even more than that if you count the smaller quakes. This explains it: https://youtu.be/eAI_0TLRwec. We went from 20 Magnitude 30 or higher in 2009 to 890 in 2015. I was about 200 miles away from this 5.6 one (upgraded to 5.8) in 2016 https://youtu.be/HD_rDd9sRgY and felt the shaking while I was camping in my van at Quartz Mountain State Park. In 2016 there were 4200 injection wells in Oklahoma, where wastewater from extracting oil was injected back underground in a different layer, supposedly below ground water and drinking water aquifers, seeping along fault lines. USGS says fracking itself is responsible for a tiny fraction, but the wastewater injection is the main culprit. Scientific American says even if all injection stopped, quakes could be triggered for years to come. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/even-if-injection-of-fracking-wastewater-stops-quakes-wont/ Fortunately very little oil production is done in SW Oklahoma where I live.
I suspected that of my readers, you were most likely to have experienced some of this. The earthquakes that we cause or magnify with our direct activities seem to top out around magnitude 5.7. (I wasn't aware one had been upgraded to 5.8.) It's good to hear from you about what it's like in an area that is a hot spot for this. Thank you.
The whole period since the Industrial Revolution began is just a small blip on the timeline of geological processes. It's possible that melting the glaciers and raising sea level will indeed cause an increase in big earthquakes but I'm checking the data a few hundred years too soon. For the moment, it's a relief to see that major ones aren't happening more often so far. We've got plenty of other big problems already.
As for earthquakes of the type you describe, as we transition away from fossil fuels, we will drill less, pump less out and have less drilling waste to pump back in. One more reason to accelerate the transition.