On October 20, 2015, the
U.S. Geological Survey released a study
entitled “A Century of Induced Earthquakes in Oklahoma?” published in the journal
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. The study examines historical
earthquakes in correlation with the intensity of oil production in the state of
Oklahoma, throughout the 20th century, to conclude that oil production
activities were most likely responsible for inducing seismic activity.
The researchers
consulted historical records of earthquakes from the Central and Eastern United
States Seismic Source Characterization (CEUS-SSC) catalog as well as online
archives of historical newspapers to further identify Oklahoma’s tectonic
stress regime and well locations. According to their results, the researchers
observed that all large earthquakes have either occurred in the areas with
rapid increases in oil and gas production or since 2009.
They also noted
spatio-temporal correspondence between earthquake epicenters and the nearest
oil and gas productive areas. As a result, the researchers opined that one of
the largest earthquakes that occurred in Oklahoma City in April 1952 was likely
induced by nearby disposal well activities in the region.
The researchers
concluded that “it is possible that earthquakes were induced by oil production
activities in Oklahoma as early as the 1920’s, and several lines of evidence
support our conclusion that much of the earthquake activity in the 1950s and
1980-1990s was induced.”
Written by Chloe Marie - Research Fellow
10/26/2015
No comments:
Post a Comment