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

[peach174]

It has nothing to do with Fracking and everything to do with the fault line.

 

[ClosedCaption]

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

But remember all humans activity have zero impact on the earth. The planet is just getting grumpy

 

[Flopper]

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.

82,000 fracking wells and 200 underground nuclear test. Fracking wells are typically at a depth of 6,000 to 10,000 and operate for years. Nuclear tests were typically at dept of 600 to 2100 feet and last for seconds. Apples and Oranges.

 

[Flopper]

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

But remember all humans activity have zero impact on the earth. The planet is just getting grumpy

"But remember all humans activity have zero impact on the earth".. Now that's a pretty dumb statement.

 

[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.

82,000 fracking wells and 200 underground nuclear test. Fracking wells are typically at a depth of 6,000 to 10,000 and operate for years. Nuclear tests were typically at dept of 600 to 2100 feet and last for seconds. Apples and Oranges.

Not exactly. And don't forget most earthquake epicenters are 30 miles underground, with many much deeper than that. It's rather difficult to imagine that fracking has any effect on plate tectonics. The amount of energy that has to come into play in causing earthquakes is enormous. Or I should say the amount of energy that must be released is enormous.

 

[Foxfyre]

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).

Okay, let's start with the truth that geologists know that fracking can and does cause little quakes or tremblors sufficient to show up on a seismograph. But all reputable geologists pretty much agree that the chances of fracking causing a damaging quake are essentially nil.

But you do raise an interesting thought. Damaging quakes occur when faults get stuck and the opposing plates don't move for an extended period. This builds up tremendous pressure so that when the strain becomes too much and the plates break free, that's when you get the 6, 7, and 8+ category devastating quakes. Wouldn't it be interesting if they inadvertently learn that fracking keeps those plates unstuck so they slide along relatively harmlessly?

Wouldn't it be funny if one of the most hated industries by environmentalists turned out to produce such a benefit?

 

[Flopper]

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.

82,000 fracking wells and 200 underground nuclear test. Fracking wells are typically at a depth of 6,000 to 10,000 and operate for years. Nuclear tests were typically at dept of 600 to 2100 feet and last for seconds. Apples and Oranges.

Not exactly. And don't forget most earthquake epicenters are 30 miles underground, with many much deeper than that. It's rather difficult to imagine that fracking has any effect on plate tectonics. The amount of energy that has to come into play in causing earthquakes is enormous. Or I should say the amount of energy that must be released is enormous.

Good Point but time will tell.

 

[bripat9643]

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

How many people died in these earthquakes? property damage?

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That's what I thought.

 

[ClosedCaption]

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

But remember all humans activity have zero impact on the earth. The planet is just getting grumpy

"But remember all humans activity have zero impact on the earth".. Now that's a pretty dumb statement.

I agree but thats the contention of the deniers. Humans cant have an impact on the earth because...yanno, the earth is big and stuff....and humans are like....Small

 

[Old Rocks]

And blue-green algea are smaller yet, but completely changed the composition of the atmosphere of this planet.

 

[Care4all]

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.

or...

''In the year 2525, if man is still alive / if woman can survive, they may find....''

I could help but think of this song when you were listing all those possible years.....

 

[Care4all]

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.

and I am grateful you high tailed your 'rear' out of there... I was scared for you, when that was happening!!!!

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Thing about energy resources and controversies like this is the alternative to fracking, oil, etc. is using less. Faced with conservation most will roll the dice.