The Hidden Cause of Recent Earthquakes: Unveiling the Link Between Hydraulic Fracturing and Seismic Activity

2023-09-20 11:47:15
A recent study revealed that the sudden and mysterious earthquakes that have struck many parts of the world recently may have a cause that was not taken into account before. The researchers attributed these tremors to hydraulic fracturing activities, which result in the trapping of carbon in the ground. What does hydraulic fracturing mean? It is a process in which large quantities of fluids are pumped underground to extract oil and natural gas. This process is usually carried out using wastewater, but there is another way, which is using liquid carbon dioxide, and that was the goal of the study. This method pushes carbon deep into the Earth, which prevents it from being released into the atmosphere and increasing global warming. While sequestering carbon by cracking carbon dioxide is one of the processes that benefits the environment, hydraulic fracturing of both types may result in minor earthquakes that may develop into devastating earthquakes. In comparison, fracking using CO2 provides greater environmental benefit than its counterpart using wastewater, because the former works to remove carbon from the atmosphere. It is estimated that fracking through CO2 saves as much carbon annually as a billion solar panels. According to Abhijit Ghosh, assistant professor of geophysics at the University of California, Riverside and co-author of the study, the study’s findings that carbon dioxide hydraulic fracturing causes earthquakes might also apply to the same process using water. How did scientists discover the reason? Seismologists have long debated the true cause of earthquakes, and while some have said they are caused by large earthquakes occurring far away, others believe they may be caused by noise generated by human activity, such as the movement of trains or industrial machinery. Therefore, scientists did not believe that the observed tremors were related to the injection of fluids into the ground, which unveils a new hypothesis regarding the causes of earthquakes and earthquakes, according to Ghosh. In their study, the researchers used seismometers installed around a hydraulic fracturing site in Wellington, Kansas, to collect data over a six-month period during the fracking operations, as well as a month before and a month following. Ghosh said that no tremors were observed before and following the injection, but they appeared only during the period of the hydraulic injection process, which was interpreted as being related to each other.
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