Oil industry's wastewater wells blamed for triggering Oklahoma quakes
For the past several years, Oklahoma has seen an upsurge in tiny earthquakes that have rattled the nerves of residents in this normally quiet part of the country.
Some scientists have suggested the oil and gas industry’s use of injection wells to bury huge amounts of wastewater deep underground may be to blame. The wastewater results from enhanced hydrocarbon extraction operations, mostly in the search for oil; Burying the wastewater deep underground, the thinking goes, may increase the pressure on the rocks enough to cause seismic events. Now, a new study in Science released Thursday finds this may be the case.
Using seismic data and pumping rate data at the well heads, a research team at Cornell University led by Prof. Katie Keranen has concluded that four of the highest-volume disposal wells in Oklahoma are likely behind 20 percent of hundreds of quakes since 2008 east of the Rocky Mountains. Keranen and her team also found the wells could trigger quakes as far away as 30 kilometers, a much greater distance than 5 kilometer which was previously believed.
MORE - http://fortune.com/2014/07/03/oil-industrys-wastewater-wells-blamed-for-triggering-oklahoma-quakes/?xid=ob_rss
