Injection-Induced Oklahoma Quake Begat Others, Study Suggests

摘要

Earthquakes induced by the injection of wastewater, such as that from oil and gas drilling, can cause larger quakes, suggests new research that examined quake activity in Oklahoma. “The observation that a human-induced earthquake can trigger a cascade of earthquakes, including a larger one, has important implications for reducing the seismic risk from wastewater injection,” said U.S.Geological Survey (USGS) seismologist and coauthor of the study Elizabeth Cochran. The research showed that a magnitude 5.0-magnitude injection-induced quake near Prague, OK in 2011 (see Shale Daily, Oct. 25, 2013), could have triggered a 5.7-magnitude quake less than a day later. If this is the case, the 5.7-magnitude quake could be the largest injection-caused earthquake.