My first real experience with an earthquake happened during a trip to Japan three years ago.  The magnitude of the earthquake was 6.3.  There had been tremors in central Oklahoma where I now live. So upon my return home from Japan, I decided to acquire earthquake insurance.

A year later, I experienced an earthquake in the US, not in California but in Oklahoma.  The quake was felt throughout a great part of the State.  The magnitude of the quake was 5.6/5.7.

According to the Oklahoma Geological Survey “the number of magnitude 3.0 earthquakes in Oklahoma has risen to an average of 40 per year since 2009, compared to only 3 recorded per year between 1975 and 2008.”

Currently it appears that the research/focus of the cause of the increase in earthquakes is not due to hydraulic fracturing and/or horizontal drilling but instead due to injection wells.

According to USA Today, Art McGarr of the US Geological Survey office has asserted that since an incident outside of Denver in the 1960s, geologists have known that deep injections of wastewater, placed in the ground can trigger earthquakes.

The Oklahoma Geological Survey has outlined a nine point practices checklist regarding injection wells.  Three of the nine points are listed, as an example:

-Fluid injections wells near known faults should be avoided.

-Fluid injection wells should be sited further from faults that are favorably oriented with either the regional or local stress field.

-Injection pressure should be checked as often as practical.  However, at a minimum, regular shut in, pressure fall-off tests should be conducted to measure formation pressure.

There is definitely the need for more information and more research. The oil and gas industry is taking the lead in supporting these research efforts.

Scientists are busy studying the earthquake “swarms” and hopefully, will be able to address the concerns especially about the question of “what can be done?”

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