interesting
MENLO PARK, Calif.— A paper published today in Science provides a case for increasing transparency and data collection to enable strategies for mitigating the effects of human-induced earthquakes caused by wastewater injection associated with oil and gas production in the United States. The paper is the result of a series of workshops led by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey in collaboration with the University of Colorado, Oklahoma Geological Survey and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, suggests that it is possible to reduce the hazard of induced seismicity through management of injection activities.
Large areas of the United States that used to experience few or no earthquakes have, in recent years, experienced a remarkable increase in earthquake activity that has caused considerable public concern as well as damage to structures. This rise in seismic activity, especially in the central United States, is not the result of natural processes.
Instead, the increased seismicity is due to fluid injection associated with new technologies that enable the extraction of oil and gas from previously unproductive reservoirs. These modern extraction techniques result in large quantities of wastewater produced along with the oil and gas. The disposal of this wastewater by deep injection occasionally results in earthquakes that are large enough to be felt, and sometimes damaging. Deep injection of wastewater is the primary cause of the dramatic rise in detected earthquakes and the corresponding increase in seismic hazard in the central U.S.
“The science of induced earthquakes is ready for application, and a main goal of our study was to motivate more cooperation among the stakeholders — including the energy resources industry, government agencies, the earth science community, and the public at large — for the common purpose of reducing the consequences of earthquakes induced by fluid injection,” said coauthor Dr. William Ellsworth, a USGS geophysicist.
The USGS is currently collaborating with interested stakeholders to develop a hazard model for induced earthquakes in the U.S. that can be updated frequently in response to changing trends in energy production.
18 Feb ’12
I have to admit I don't know much more about fracking than just the basics of the process.
This article makes me wonder how damaging one well can be, or is this because there are so many wells they are beginning to destabilize the earth's crust underneath us. According to a number of sources I looked at, there are over 1M wells in the US that have used fracking. When fracking works, it leaves empty spaces that used to contain gas. The keep the spaces open with particulates, but eventually the spaces consolidate. As the spaces consolidate, they can leave large pockets. I guess you get enough pockets, and they collapse, or if fracking is done alone faultlines, you get seismic activity.
I keep wondering in the back of my mind, when (not if) will we have a large incident of a huge aquifier being contaminated by fracking. I can see a perfect storm of fault lines, consolidated fracked spaces, and huge amounts of underground fracking waste coming together to render a large city or maybe a whole state or group of state's groundwater undrinkable. We end up with a situation like Rio de Janiero, but with no warning.
ashleigh11 said
I keep wondering in the back of my mind, when (not if) will we have a large incident of a huge aquifier being contaminated by fracking. I can see a perfect storm of fault lines, consolidated fracked spaces, and huge amounts of underground fracking waste coming together to render a large city or maybe a whole state or group of state's groundwater undrinkable. We end up with a situation like Rio de Janiero, but with no warning.
I think that is a valid concern and one a lot of people have
Came across this article this morning
Most Users Ever Online: 698
Currently Online:
99 Guest(s)
Currently Browsing this Page:
1 Guest(s)
Top Posters:
easytapper: 2149
DangerDuke: 2030
groinkick: 1667
PorkChopsMmm: 1515
Gravel Road: 1455
Newest Members:
Forum Stats:
Groups: 1
Forums: 12
Topics: 11482
Posts: 58640
Member Stats:
Guest Posters: 2
Members: 19842
Moderators: 0
Admins: 1
Administrators: K