Minor earthquakes seen near Texas injection wells: study
Source: Reuters
Minor earthquakes seen near Texas injection wells: study
By Deborah Zabarenko
WASHINGTON | Mon Aug 6, 2012 3:55pm EDT
(Reuters) - Dozens of small earthquakes occurred in central Texas over a two-year period, and 23 of them were close to injection wells where waste water from energy extraction was pumped deep underground for disposal, a new study reported on Monday.
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Study author Cliff Frohlich of the University of Texas at Austin located 68 earthquakes in this area, more than eight times as many as the U.S. National Earthquake Center found over the same period from November 2009 to September 2011.
Of those, 23 were located within about two miles of high-volume injection wells that pumped more than 150,000 barrels per month of water underground, Frohlich wrote in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
His study did not examine any possible link between earthquakes and hydraulic fracturing - commonly called fracking - where water, sand and chemicals are pumped underground at high pressure to break up rock formations that contain oil and natural gas.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/06/us-earthquakes-injection-wells-idUSBRE87519R20120806
