Wastewater injection in US linked with increase in earthquakes
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028970
Nature : Earthquake rates in the US have soared because of wastewater injected underground during oil and gas exploration operations, according to two new studies. In one study , Matthew Weingarten of the University of Colorado at Boulder and colleagues gathered data from the central and eastern US on more than 187 000 injection wells and some 7175 earthquakes that occurred between 1973 and 2014. They found that the percentage of earthquakes within 15 km of an injection well rose from 20% in 2000 to 87% in 2014. In the other study , Rall Walsh of Stanford University and colleagues concentrated on three areas in central and northern Oklahoma where a majority of the region’s earthquakes over the past six years have occurred. They found that earthquake rates rose dramatically as the number of saltwater injections increased.
