Increased U.S. Earthquakes May be Caused by Fracking

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Fracking operation in southwest Pennsylvania // Source: trumbullcountygaslease.com

Homeland Security News Wire - April 24, 2012

From 1970 to 2000 the number of magnitude 3.0 or greater temblors in the U.S. mid-continent averaged twenty-one annually; by 2011 the number of such quakes had increased to 134; a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey links the increase of seismic activity to the increase in the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking

A U.S. Geological Survey abstract says there has been a substantial increase in seismic activity in the U.S. mid-continent. 2011 saw a 6-fold increase in the number of magnitude 3.0 or greater temblors, when compared to the twentieth century average of such earthquakes.

From 1970 to 2000 the number of such quakes averaged twenty-one annually, plus or minus 7.6 per year. By 2011 the number of such events had increased to 134.

The abstract links the increase of seismic activity to the increase in the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, as a means of extracting petroleum and natural gas, concluding that the earthquake rate changes are “almost certainly manmade, it remains to be determined how they are related to either changes in extraction methodologies or the rate of oil and gas production.”

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USGS - Is the Recent Increase in Felt Earthquakes in the Central U.S. Natural or Manmade?

US Dept. of the Interior - Is the Recent Increase in Felt Earthquakes in the Central US Natural or Manmade?

Abstract - Are Seismicity Rate Changes in the Midcontinent Natural or Manmade?