https://www.earthmagazine.org/tags/induced-seismicity/ Recent content in Induced Seismicity on EARTH Magazine Hugo en-US American Geosciences Institute. All rights reserved. Tue, 01 May 2018 16:08:04 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/airport-earthquakes-continued-after-injection-ended/ Tue, 01 May 2018 16:08:04 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/airport-earthquakes-continued-after-injection-ended/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/airport-earthquakes-continued-after-injection-ended/Cantner_DallasAirportQuakeMap.jpg" alt="Seismicity induced by wastewater injection around the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport did not cease when injection stopped. The solid red line delineates the Airport Fault, while the dashed red line marks a cross section in a new pore pressure study. Credit: K. Cantner, AGI modified from Ogwari et al., 2018." loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>Seismicity induced by wastewater injection around the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport did not cease when injection stopped. The solid red line delineates the Airport Fault, while the dashed red line marks a cross section in a new pore pressure study. Credit: K. Cantner, AGI modified from Ogwari et al., 2018.</figcaption> </figure> <p>Since Oct. 31, 2008, when seismic activity was first detected, hundreds of earthquakes smaller than magnitude 3.4 have peppered a fault zone that partly underlies the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) in north-central Texas. After the quakes were <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249868205_Dallas-Fort_Worth_earthquakes_coincident_with_activity_associated_with_natural_gas_production">linked</a> to the subsurface disposal of wastewater fluids from oil and gas operations in wells located within a kilometer of the initial quakes, wastewater injections into those wells were halted in August 2009. A new <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2017JB015003/pdf">study</a> finds that quakes near the airport continued for years after the wells were shut down, suggesting that halting wastewater injection may not immediately stop induced seismicity.</p> https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/human-induced-quakes-included-new-seismic-hazard-maps/ Tue, 29 Mar 2016 15:11:14 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/human-induced-quakes-included-new-seismic-hazard-maps/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/human-induced-quakes-included-new-seismic-hazard-maps/Yellow-Map-Chance-of-Earthquake_1.jpg" alt="The U.S. Geological Survey released new seismic hazard maps Monday that, for the first time, factor in the ground-shaking hazard from human-induced seismicity. This map shows the forecast likelihoods that damaging shaking from a natural earthquake will occur in the western U.S. (left), or from a natural or induced earthquake in the central or eastern U.S. (right). Credit: U.S. Geological Survey" loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>The U.S. Geological Survey released new seismic hazard maps Monday that, for the first time, factor in the ground-shaking hazard from human-induced seismicity. This map shows the forecast likelihoods that damaging shaking from a natural earthquake will occur in the western U.S. (left), or from a natural or induced earthquake in the central or eastern U.S. (right). Credit: U.S. Geological Survey</figcaption> </figure> <p>The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) regularly releases <a href="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/hazards/products/">National Seismic Hazard Maps</a> that summarize hazards from potential ground shaking produced by faults around the country. This year, for the first time, those maps include not only natural earthquakes, but also earthquakes <a href="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/induced/">induced by human activities</a> — particularly injection of wastewater produced during oil and gas extraction practices. The <a href="https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ofr20161035">new maps</a> were <a href="http://www.usgs.gov/blogs/features/usgs_top_story/induced-earthquakes-raise-chances-of-damaging-shaking-in-2016/">released</a> Monday on the USGS website.</p>