3 ms·

Doesn't the arrival of man-made earthquakes signify the departure of even larger natural earthquakes? This would oddly strike me as possibly a valid use of frac

by patcon 12y ago

Doesn't the arrival of man-made earthquakes signify the departure of even larger natural earthquakes? This would oddly strike me as possibly a valid use of fracking technology -- forcing earthquakes before tension builds to catastrophic levels. (If so, I'd prefer we did this without pulling up more petroleum products.) Disclaimer: I skimmed the article. Also, I'm against a future built on petroleum and fracking in general.

th0ma5 12y ago
I would think most of these earthquakes are the vertical-movement variety, whereas tectonic sliding horizontal movement earthquakes are the much larger and dangerous kind, and may not be affected by any release of tension like these man made ones may be creating.
- blumkvist 12y ago
  So, I gather there are different type of earthquakes? Why is there no mention of this in the 5000 word article? Does injecting water have any effect on the "dangerous kind of quakes"? This article more and more looks like complete faux to me. Probably the sponsored kind.
mikeyouse 12y ago
Unfortunately, while small earthquakes can relieve stress, the amount of energy they displace is inconsequential in terms of the most destructive earthquakes. You would need 1 million magnitude-3 earthquakes to release the equivalent amount of energy from a single magnitude-7 quake. You'd need 33 million magnitude-3s to release the equivalent energy from a magnitude-8, etc.
jessriedel 12y ago
Keep in mind that the bigger earthquakes are caused by wastewater injection, not fracking. > Many of the larger earthquakes are caused by disposal wells, where the billions of barrels of brackish water brought up by drilling for oil and gas are pumped back into the ground. (Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking—in which chemically treated water is injected into the earth to fracture rocks in order to access oil and gas reserves—causes smaller earthquakes, almost always less than 3.0.) Wastewater injection is usually a result of oil and gas drilling, but it's not the same thing as fracking.

by patcon 12y ago

th0ma5 12y ago

I would think most of these earthquakes are the vertical-movement variety, whereas tectonic sliding horizontal movement earthquakes are the much larger and dangerous kind, and may not be affected by any release of tension like these man made ones may be creating.

blumkvist 12y ago
So, I gather there are different type of earthquakes? Why is there no mention of this in the 5000 word article? Does injecting water have any effect on the "dangerous kind of quakes"? This article more and more looks like complete faux to me. Probably the sponsored kind.

mikeyouse 12y ago

Unfortunately, while small earthquakes can relieve stress, the amount of energy they displace is inconsequential in terms of the most destructive earthquakes. You would need 1 million magnitude-3 earthquakes to release the equivalent amount of energy from a single magnitude-7 quake. You'd need 33 million magnitude-3s to release the equivalent energy from a magnitude-8, etc.

jessriedel 12y ago

Keep in mind that the bigger earthquakes are caused by wastewater injection, not fracking. > Many of the larger earthquakes are caused by disposal wells, where the billions of barrels of brackish water brought up by drilling for oil and gas are pumped back into the ground. (Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking—in which chemically treated water is injected into the earth to fracture rocks in order to access oil and gas reserves—causes smaller earthquakes, almost always less than 3.0.) Wastewater injection is usually a result of oil and gas drilling, but it's not the same thing as fracking.