Posted on 09/27/2014 10:50:10 PM PDT by GonzoII
Scientists say its almost certain that massive injections of waste water caused recent quakes in the Raton Basin, including a 5.3 tremor in 2011
FRISCO A surge in earthquakes in southern Colorado and New Mexico has almost certainly been caused by the injection of fracking wastewater deep into the ground, U.S. Geological Survey scientists reported last week.
The study details several lines of evidence directly linking the injection wells to the seismicity. The timing and location of the quakes is clearly linked with the the documented pattern of injected wastewater.
Detailed investigations of two seismic sequences (2001 and 2011) places them in proximity to high-volume, high-injection-rate wells, and both sequences occurred after a nearby increase in the rate of injection. A comparison between seismicity and wastewater injection in Colorado and New Mexico reveals similar patterns, suggesting seismicity is initiated shortly after an increase in injection rates.
For example, two injection wells near the epicenter of a 2011 5.3 earthquake had about 5 million cubic meters of wastewater injected just before the quake more than seven times the amount injected at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal well that caused damaging earthquakes near Denver, Colorado, in the 1960s. The August 2011 M 5.3 event is the second-largest earthquake to date for which there is clear evidence that the earthquake sequence was induced by fluid injection.
The study looked at the Raton Basin, which stretches from southern Colorado into northern New Mexico. The basin was seismically quiet until shortly after major fluid injection began in 1999. Since 2001, there have been 16 quakes magnitude 3.8 or greater (including M 5.0 and 5.3), compared to only one (M 4.0) the previous 30 years. The increase in earthquakes is limited to the area of industrial activity and within 5 kilometers of wastewater injection wells.
(Excerpt) Read more at summitcountyvoice.com ...
Kind of like blaming a homeowner for over watering his garden when his house is swallowed by a sinkhole...
Any recoverable oil is removed prior to injection, but the water is itself a lubricant.
The good Dr. is probably onto something in #8.
To quote hitlery “what difference can it make?”. Unless I missed something, haven’t all these quakes blamed on water injection been just relatively light tremors? Now if these start getting up in the breaking things range, might be something to worry with, until then enjoy the thrill.
So, why is it that the 4 CORNERS area which has tens of thousands of gas wells is still stable?
Ditto!
Better the tremors locally than having to bomb muslims internationally. Stop giving tons of money to merciless lazy jerks and spend a tiny portion of your gas dollars making a little stronger structure. The earth aint gonna explode like California, it’s not a major fault with volcanoes coming, it’s only gonna shake a little.
USGS. Feral gummint. Right.
This water may not even be from fracking in the basin but from a third type of production called "coal gas." This gas is produced from water saturated coal beds that have gas trapped by the presence and pressure of water. To release the gas, large volumes of water are pumped at the BEGINNING of the extraction process to lower the hydraulic head so as to release the gas. This gas doesn't have the type of volatiles associated with conventural production so the water is relatively fresh. It would be useful to reuse the water but injection may be the more economical option for the producer. In addition, and unlike conventional gas production, water volumes decrease with time, much like heavy pumping conventional water wells with no recharge.
ping
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