4 ms·

Fracking does this on a small scale. I had an excellent geology professor, Donald Prothero, who argued manually triggering earthquakes could be a much better id

Fracking does this on a small scale. I had an excellent geology professor, Donald Prothero, who argued manually triggering earthquakes could be a much better idea in high tension areas than waiting for them to happen organically, as we could prepare, and the triggered earthquakes wouldn’t be as bad as waiting for them to happen. But the paperwork would be a nightmare(:

anonymouskimmer 3y ago
Another issue is that an earthquake in one location can trigger an earthquake in another.
dsr3 3y ago
Earthquakes triggered by fracking is usually small and non-damaging (less than M5, mostly M4 or M3).
- code51 3y ago
  It's actually impossible to know for certain how much and what size of land you're destabilizing. Duration of expected destabilization is also varying I guess and at least 1 year. Oklahoma, 2012 seismic sequence in Emilia (Italy), Sichuan Basin are already examples that triggered protests and call for investigations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Northern_Italy_earthquakes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Northern_Italy_earthquake... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2187718/chinese-demonstrators-rage-sichuan-government-and-blame-fracking https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2187718/chin... https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1225942 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1225942 An example study for US that states the activity is exponantially linked to fracking sites: https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10233410 https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10233410 > "Exponential relationship between the total number of earthquakes and the number of wells in the Texas during the study period 1998–2018 with correlation R2=0.726." In the tragic earthquakes of 2023 in Turkey, this relationship was again discussed in mainstream media: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Turkey%E2%80%93Syria_earthquakes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Turkey%E2%80%93Syria_eart... It's not fracking itself but actually wastewater injection has a bigger influence in triggering bigger earthquakes according to what I've read. Moreover, it's also known that dams have a significant impact: https://archive.internationalrivers.org/blogs/227/china-earthquake-a-dam-induced-disaster#:~:text=The%20devastating%20earthquake%20in%20Sichuan,line%20near%20the%20dam%20site https://archive.internationalrivers.org/blogs/227/china-eart.... > "The devastating earthquake in Sichuan, which took at least 69,000 lives in May 2008, may have been unleashed by the huge Zipingpu Dam. New scientific evidence suggests that the filling of the Zipingpu reservoir may have activated a dormant fault line near the dam site." Shallow faults are definitely activated. Probability of deep faults activated through full destabilization of a region? Unknown for now.
BurningFrog 3y ago
Releasing the tension in small quakes every few months must be preferable to letting it pile up and release every few decades.
- TheCleric 3y ago
  It would be preferable, but a litigation nightmare. If 100 houses fall down due to a natural earthquake, no one gets sued. If 2 houses fall down in a "prescribed burn" earthquake, now the entity that caused the earthquake can be sued.
stygiansonic 3y ago
Also who would cover the legal liability in case of damages?
gosub100 3y ago
Fracking triggers earthquakes, but not on demand.

anonymouskimmer 3y ago

Another issue is that an earthquake in one location can trigger an earthquake in another.

dsr3 3y ago

Earthquakes triggered by fracking is usually small and non-damaging (less than M5, mostly M4 or M3).

code51 3y ago
It's actually impossible to know for certain how much and what size of land you're destabilizing. Duration of expected destabilization is also varying I guess and at least 1 year. Oklahoma, 2012 seismic sequence in Emilia (Italy), Sichuan Basin are already examples that triggered protests and call for investigations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Northern_Italy_earthquakes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Northern_Italy_earthquake... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2187718/chinese-demonstrators-rage-sichuan-government-and-blame-fracking https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2187718/chin... https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1225942 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1225942 An example study for US that states the activity is exponantially linked to fracking sites: https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10233410 https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10233410 > "Exponential relationship between the total number of earthquakes and the number of wells in the Texas during the study period 1998–2018 with correlation R2=0.726." In the tragic earthquakes of 2023 in Turkey, this relationship was again discussed in mainstream media: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Turkey%E2%80%93Syria_earthquakes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Turkey%E2%80%93Syria_eart... It's not fracking itself but actually wastewater injection has a bigger influence in triggering bigger earthquakes according to what I've read. Moreover, it's also known that dams have a significant impact: https://archive.internationalrivers.org/blogs/227/china-earthquake-a-dam-induced-disaster#:~:text=The%20devastating%20earthquake%20in%20Sichuan,line%20near%20the%20dam%20site https://archive.internationalrivers.org/blogs/227/china-eart.... > "The devastating earthquake in Sichuan, which took at least 69,000 lives in May 2008, may have been unleashed by the huge Zipingpu Dam. New scientific evidence suggests that the filling of the Zipingpu reservoir may have activated a dormant fault line near the dam site." Shallow faults are definitely activated. Probability of deep faults activated through full destabilization of a region? Unknown for now.

BurningFrog 3y ago

Releasing the tension in small quakes every few months must be preferable to letting it pile up and release every few decades.

TheCleric 3y ago
It would be preferable, but a litigation nightmare. If 100 houses fall down due to a natural earthquake, no one gets sued. If 2 houses fall down in a "prescribed burn" earthquake, now the entity that caused the earthquake can be sued.

stygiansonic 3y ago

Also who would cover the legal liability in case of damages?

gosub100 3y ago

Fracking triggers earthquakes, but not on demand.