Oklahoma Earthquake Linked to Fracking?

27 by Timothy Hurst on November 6, 2011

Was the earthquake the United States Geological Survey is now calling the largest earthquake on record in Oklahoma linked to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the widely used but contentious oil and gas production technique which vastly increases the quantity of fossil fuels retrievable in a well?

As of Sunday night, 23 earthquakes have been recorded in central Oklahoma in the last 24 hours. The biggest quake in the latest seismic flurry, the 5.6-magnitude earthquake centered near Sparks, Oklahoma on Saturday night, could be felt as far north as Illinois and Wisconsin.

While most people don't consider Oklahoma to be a hotbed of seismic activity, geological activity in Oklahoma has increased in recent years where earthquakes are occurring with greater frequency and intensity.

According to the Associated Press:

Oklahoma typically had about 50 earthquakes a year until 2009. Then the number spiked, and 1,047 quakes shook the state last year, prompting researchers to install seismographs in the area.

But why?

One hypothesis being floated to explain the increase in the frequency of earthquakes in places like Oklahoma and Arkansas maintains that hydraulic fracturing, or the injection of "developed water" (wastewater) into wells as a disposal method is altering the geological balance in the immediate area of the drilling activity.

In Lincoln County, where most of this weekend's earthquakes were centered, there are 181 injection wells, according to an official from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the agency which oversees oil and gas production in the state.

Most scientists say they don't know exactly what is causing the recent uptick in earthquakes in Oklahoma but that fracking likely doesn't generate the kind of long-term geological pressure needed to induce an earthquake.

And one study (pdf) by Oklahoma Geological Survey seismologist Austin Holland found that most of the state's seismic activity was likely not caused by the injection wells which dot the Oklahoma oil fields.

But Holland, who is one of those scientists that doubts the link between fracking and earthquakes, also says more research was needed on the matter and that there may, in fact, be a correlation between fracking and other recent Oklahoma quakes.

Photo: Some rights reserved by kelleymcd at flickr

Category: Energy Industry, News | Tags: earthquake, fracking, gas, hydraulic fracturing, natural gas, oil, oklahoma

About the Author:

Timothy Hurst is the editor at Ecopolitology and Earth & Industry as well as the executive editor of the LiveOAK Media Network. He writes mostly about energy and environmental politics, clean tech, infrastructure and green business. When not reading, writing, or talking about environmental politics to anyone who will listen, Tim likes to ski, hike with his aging lab and get dirty in his Colorado veggie garden. Find Tim on Google+.

Follow Timothy Hurst on Twitter: @ecopolitologist

Frank

I for one do believe this has everything to do with fracking. They don’t need to invest in anyones’ research to find out that’s the case. The people who live in these areas who thinks the benefit of fracking is good for their communities go ahead and believe so. I can’t believe people would endanger their lives and their families just for a buck. Wow! As long as these scientist say there’s no corralation it just prevents the people hurt by these occurances from suing. Don’t believe for one minute big oil and gas doesn’t know this! It’s like the car companies when they pretended cars were safe when they already knew the way cars were built were not as safe as they could have been. The question is how many lives and or property will have to be destroyed before people begin to become wise of this.

Chris

So Frank…

What are your credentials and published works that support this “theory” of yours?

…or is it just you picking a side because you “believe it to be so?”

http://planetsave.com/2011/11/07/oklahoma-earthquake-fracking/ Shawn Culp

http://planetsave.com/2011/11/07/oklahoma-earthquake-fracking/
Chris, I am wondering why it is that people like you cannot open your eyes and do a little research on your own before attacking someone. The evidence is there to see with some common sense, and a little time. Arkansas put a moritoriam on this kind of mining earlier this year, and Englands scientist have come forward against the Oil and Gas big money and have proven that Fracking is dangeous in the short and the long term.

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Shawn Culp

Just wonder how many people out there will wake up and realize that people, i.e. scientist who need the money or just want it will say or write anything that the oil companies want them to. Please people, say something to your congressmen and women. Look it up and do some research for yourself and you will see that fracking has been going on for decades, and it really scares me how many wells out there have been closed off and are just waiting to go boom.
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Seth

“…fracking likely doesn’t generate the kind of long-term geological pressure needed to induce an earthquake.”

But this isn’t long term pressure. This is fractured rock under water pressure settling and shifting. You get the process wrong and no telling what air pockets are collapsing. Fracking is a sloppy way of mining and the miners have no idea what the land will do until it’s too late to fix it.

http://www.godisimaginary.com Karl Schneider

It is my sad duty to inform you that you are an idiot. “Air pockets”?????? That would actually be funny if it weren’t so goddamn pathetically stupid.

Seth

And yet they are fracking to claim gas caught in “air” pockets. That’s a hollow no matter how small filled with a gas. The water pressure breaks the rock, lets the gas free (which is the whole point, Karl) and, as I said before, if you get the process WRONG, you’re leaving gaps where the water table lowers and leaves open areas above, which can collapse. They don’t have to be large, Karl. I”m sure this is too complicated for you. Perhaps your farting god can explain it to you.

http://www.godisimaginary.com Karl Schneider

If you actually think there are “air pockets” deep underground, you are either insane or incredibly stupid. I was a kid when my dad assisted in the development of hydraulic fracturing and it was introduced into the Johnsonville oil fields in southern Illinois in the early 1950s. There is NO history of earthquakes in that area, even after 60 years of ‘fracking’ (and other secondary and tertiary recovery procedures as well), and there are millions of earthquakes all around the planet where no fracking has ever been done. I am a geologist, what is YOUR expertise on this?

Seth

So your daddy raised you on money made from fracking. Your credibility just plummeted. I’m not going to waste time citing references you should have learned in school.
I’ll be laughing when the fracking industry finally has to admit they are screwing things up. You go play with your rocks.

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VOR

There is a concept in the debugging of systems that is pretty simple. It says that when something goes wrong, look to what has changed in that system recently as the most likely cause. When you have an area where there are very few earthquakes that suddenly see an increase in them of two orders of magnitude you have to ask, what has changed that might affect the geological structure in that area. I was not surprised to see that fracking had been going on where these earthquakes occurred. Frankly I cannot see how those defending this practice can say that breaking the fundamental structure of the rock, destroying its integrity to release the gas, would have no effect on that areas solidity and the things that depend on that solidity (ground water containment, subsidence, etc.) That “long-term geological pressure” already exists, breaking the strata through fracking simply allows it to be released.

http://www.godisimaginary.com Karl Schneider

No doubt the tornadoes are also caused by fracking. Or maybe it’s just god farting too much…

frumious

There are many hydraulic fracking wells in the immediate area of the 5.6 quake’s epicenter. (See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9fS3ouatds )

It is well known that earthquakes take place along faults when two conditions occur: 1) When there is a change in the pressure stasis or balance along a fault and 2) when water at a fault “lubricates” the fault causing it to slip (quake). Fracking sets up both conditions. In the Oklahoma case there is a fault in the immediate area of many hydraulic fracking wells. A large amount of fracking and the removal of substantial high pressure gas can certainly change the pressure balance along the fault. And the fracking process itself explosively injects millions of gallons of water mixed with chemicals into rock layers turning them into an oily slurry. If that liquid mix gets to and follows a fault line, it can have an effect similar to the taking of an enema.

It is significant that the industry is not denying the connection between fracking and the earthquake. Rather, so far, they are taking the tack that there is yet no proof of cause and effect. Be sure that the industry has already started frantic research on the relation between fracking and this earthquake.
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Sheanybird

I see the bigger picture. We don’t know exactly what caused the quakes here. I have lived here almost all of my life and have never experienced quakes like that. It raises the question, “why”. Looking at different theories is a natural way of problem solving. It is possible a series of quakes could be caused by facturing at a weak or point where there may be deeper faults. It is also possible the quakes were a natural occurance. I appreciate the research being done on the quakes, either way. That’s how we progress.
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