26 Earthquakes Later, Fracking’s Smoking Gun Is in Texas

[Flopper]

After 11 quakes in the last two days – with one registering at a 3.6 – Irving, Texas’ sudden onset tremor problem might be the fracking industry’s nightmare.

There’s a monster lurking under Texas, beneath the sand and oil and cowboy bones, and it’s getting a little restless after a 15 million year nap. Shaking things up in the city of Irving, just slightly west of Dallas, where no less than ten earthquakes yesterday and today bring the total tremors to 26 since October in that town alone. Over 100 quakes have been registered in the North Texas region since 2008, a staggering uptick from just a single one prior that year.

The Balcones Fault Zone divides the Lone Star State in half, loosely following the route of Interstate 35 and passing under Fort Worth, Waco, Austin, and San Antonio. And it’s not just a huge amount of human populations that sit on top of it. There are also thousands of fracking wells boring down in to the earth’s crust, pumping millions of gallons of water down with the direct intent of breaking apart what lay beneath.

26 Earthquakes Later Fracking s Smoking Gun Is in Texas - The Daily Beast

 

[Tom Sweetnam]

Why don't underground nuclear blasts with a million times the yield of any fracking activity ever set off earthquakes? What's up with that? They've been going on for more than half a century. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!! Nope. No earthquakes...ever.

More bullshit from the anti-petroleum crowd who brought you global warminess.

 

[ScienceRocks]

There hasn't been any nuclear test for a long time because of the test ban treaty.

 

[Tom Sweetnam]

BTW, I'm a Northern California boy. A 3.6 isn't an "earthquake", nor is anything smaller. These are regarded by geophysicists as "temblors". Thousands of them happen every day on earth. Hundreds might transpire under the fault plates off the Northern California coast in a single day, and if you aren't a geophysicist equipped with a seismograph, you'll never be the wiser that they ever happened. The problem with possessing an above average grasp of science in contemporary society, is that you're inundated with a never-ending shitstorm of crap raining down on useful idiots, crap they actually believe, and post, like our OP up there.

 

[Tom Sweetnam]

There hasn't been any nuclear test for a long time because of the test ban treaty.

They went on well through the 1990's at the Nevada Test Sight. I was there for one of them. Regardless, above ground and below ground tests caused significant worry about radiation contamination, but not once in history did an underground test cause an earthquake. The OP is talking about temblors, not earthquakes. They're a natural geophysical event that happen thousands of times every day. He's talking bullshit in other words.

 

[Wyatt earp]

The millions of Gallons of water they use come from the ground aquifer causing huge underground.caverns, it seems.logical that's what's causing the earthquakes not the drilling it self.

With underground atomic bombs don't think it would produce a big enough hole

 

[Old Rocks]

LOL. Bear, that is just silly. Aquifers are not huge underground caverns. They are porous rock with water in the pores. That is why it takes so long to recharge them.

The earthquakes are caused by the injection of liquid under pressure, which forces the rocks apart and lubricates them. If there is a fault in the area, you have an existing crack in the rock, and the liquid will follow it. And lubricate it. If there is stress on that fault, at the failure point, it will be relieved, an earthquake. Now for most, this is pretty small beans as far as the size of the earthquake. But there are faults that we are unaware of, blind faults, that could easily have significant stress on them. Lubricate one of these, and the results could be serious.

And then there is the big motha in the Central US. The New Madrid Fault. Lot's of fracking going on along it. Things could get real interesting if a section of it lets go.

USGS increases earthquake risk along New Madrid Fault - WDRB 41 Louisville News

 

[Old Rocks]

There hasn't been any nuclear test for a long time because of the test ban treaty.

They went on well through the 1990's at the Nevada Test Sight. I was there for one of them. Regardless, above ground and below ground tests caused significant worry about radiation contamination, but not once in history did an underground test cause an earthquake. The OP is talking about temblors, not earthquakes. They're a natural geophysical event that happen thousands of times every day. He's talking bullshit in other words.

Sweetie Pie, it is you that is flapping silly yap. Injection of liquids under high pressure into the ground has been shown to activate faults.

Disposal of Hydrofracking Waste Fluid by Injection into Subsurface Aquifers Triggers Earthquake Swarm in Central Arkansas with Potential for Damaging Earthquake

 

[Debunker]

Remember the bridge that fell down when they were "only" resurfacing the roadway. Only takes one to many straws to break the camel back, and only one hydraulic fracture to release the Madrid fault. Have fun with that one .. Hehe

 

[martybegan]

After 11 quakes in the last two days – with one registering at a 3.6 – Irving, Texas’ sudden onset tremor problem might be the fracking industry’s nightmare.

There’s a monster lurking under Texas, beneath the sand and oil and cowboy bones, and it’s getting a little restless after a 15 million year nap. Shaking things up in the city of Irving, just slightly west of Dallas, where no less than ten earthquakes yesterday and today bring the total tremors to 26 since October in that town alone. Over 100 quakes have been registered in the North Texas region since 2008, a staggering uptick from just a single one prior that year.

The Balcones Fault Zone divides the Lone Star State in half, loosely following the route of Interstate 35 and passing under Fort Worth, Waco, Austin, and San Antonio. And it’s not just a huge amount of human populations that sit on top of it. There are also thousands of fracking wells boring down in to the earth’s crust, pumping millions of gallons of water down with the direct intent of breaking apart what lay beneath.

26 Earthquakes Later Fracking s Smoking Gun Is in Texas - The Daily Beast

I notice you didn't quote the magnitude.

 

[martybegan]

Remember the bridge that fell down when they were "only" resurfacing the roadway. Only takes one to many straws to break the camel back, and only one hydraulic fracture to release the Madrid fault. Have fun with that one .. Hehe

if it did happen, it would only release the fault earlier. So basically you would have the great Madrid Earthquake of 2015 instead of 2016 or 2025.

The New Madrid Fault is going to move again, its not a question of "if" but "when". And since I don't see any anti-earthquake technology coming up in the near future, I doubt delaying fracking would do anything about it.

Hell, maybe these small releases would actually mitigate the size of the bigger quake.

 

[007]

I've lived through "earthquake swarms" in Reno. Small quakes one after another by the hundreds, and I can tell you, that you can't even feel anything smaller than a 3.0, so why are people crapping their drawers over a couple tiny tremors in TX?

People wouldn't even know about them unless they were told.

 

[Old Rocks]

Remember the bridge that fell down when they were "only" resurfacing the roadway. Only takes one to many straws to break the camel back, and only one hydraulic fracture to release the Madrid fault. Have fun with that one .. Hehe

if it did happen, it would only release the fault earlier. So basically you would have the great Madrid Earthquake of 2015 instead of 2016 or 2025.

The New Madrid Fault is going to move again, its not a question of "if" but "when". And since I don't see any anti-earthquake technology coming up in the near future, I doubt delaying fracking would do anything about it.

Hell, maybe these small releases would actually mitigate the size of the bigger quake.

Not really. Each step up the Richter scale represents a factor of 31.6. So it would take 31,500,000 3 magnitude quakes to equal an 8 magnitude quake.

Richter magnitude scale - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

 

[martybegan]

Remember the bridge that fell down when they were "only" resurfacing the roadway. Only takes one to many straws to break the camel back, and only one hydraulic fracture to release the Madrid fault. Have fun with that one .. Hehe

if it did happen, it would only release the fault earlier. So basically you would have the great Madrid Earthquake of 2015 instead of 2016 or 2025.

The New Madrid Fault is going to move again, its not a question of "if" but "when". And since I don't see any anti-earthquake technology coming up in the near future, I doubt delaying fracking would do anything about it.

Hell, maybe these small releases would actually mitigate the size of the bigger quake.

Not really. Each step up the Richter scale represents a factor of 31.6. So it would take 31,500,000 3 magnitude quakes to equal an 8 magnitude quake.

Richter magnitude scale - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

The scale doesn't work that way either. quakes are caused by movement, and smaller movements spread out could have a larger impact than the overall energy released by the smaller movements.

I also note you didn't respond to my other two statements.

 

[Old Rocks]

You have a point, Marty. I left out the word 'energy'. Each step up the scale represents 31.6 times the energy as the last step.

Well, yes, the New Madrid fault will let go again at some time in the future. And the earthquake codes in much of the area it affects are pretty sad.

Or, conversly, smaller movements could add stress on the larger fault.

 

[martybegan]

You have a point, Marty. I left out the word 'energy'. Each step up the scale represents 31.6 times the energy as the last step.

Well, yes, the New Madrid fault will let go again at some time in the future. And the earthquake codes in much of the area it affects are pretty sad.

Or, conversly, smaller movements could add stress on the larger fault.

They could do just about anything. The real point is even in the remote chance that these micro quakes set off a main fault, the fault has to already be under significant stress, and said stress will eventually be released. I cannot see micro-quakes causing a major earthquake that wasn't already imminent (in geological terms).

 

[ClosedCaption]

BTW, I'm a Northern California boy. A 3.6 isn't an "earthquake", nor is anything smaller. These are regarded by geophysicists as "temblors". Thousands of them happen every day on earth. Hundreds might transpire under the fault plates off the Northern California coast in a single day, and if you aren't a geophysicist equipped with a seismograph, you'll never be the wiser that they ever happened. The problem with possessing an above average grasp of science in contemporary society, is that you're inundated with a never-ending shitstorm of crap raining down on useful idiots, crap they actually believe, and post, like our OP up there.

This is funny, the earth shakes and you're trying to tell everyone to calm down because of what geophysicists call it and because you've been through worse. LOL.

When we had a slight tremor in Maryland no one gave a shit about what a geophysicist called it....It was a fucking earthquake. Parse all you want

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Er, so all we have to do is pour concrete down into the well and seal up the fault

Right?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

The entire planet is getting more active. Undersea volcanoes are melting the ice caps, the Pacific ring of fire has been active lately, there was a big tremor off the coast of California.

To blame it on fracking is well, dumb

 

[Old Rocks]

Er, so all we have to do is pour concrete down into the well and seal up the fault

Right?

wrong