Catalog of Texas Earthquakes Confirms Effects of Wastewater Disposal
https://www.seismosoc.org/news/catalog-of-texas-earthquakes-confirms-effects-of-wastewater-disposal/
Catalog of Texas Earthquakes Confirms Effects of Wastewater Disposal
Published on 11 June 2019 | BSSA, Journals, News
11 June 2019A comprehensive catalog of earthquake sequences in Texass Fort Worth Basin, from 2008 to 2018, provides a closer look at how wastewater disposal from oil and gas exploration has changed the seismic landscape in the basin.
In their
report published in the
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Louis Quinones and Heather DeShon of Southern Methodist University and colleagues confirm that seismicity rates in the basin have decreased since 2014, a trend that appears to correspond with a decrease in wastewater injection.
However, their analysis also notes that new faults have become active during this period, and that seismicity continues at a greater distance from injection wells over time, suggesting that far-field changes in seismic stress will be important for understanding the basins future earthquake hazard potential.
One thing we have come to appreciate is how broadly injection in the basin has modified stress within entire basin, said DeShon.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1785/0120190057