Fracking: Wastewater Injection Sites Inducing Major Quakes

A study published in Science explains how wastewater injection sites, areas where toxic water left over from oil drilling and fracking processes is injected into the ground, could be driving a sharp increase in disastrous earthquake events being witnessed in the US. The toxic water left over from oil drilling and fracking processes is injected between impermeable layers of rocks to avoid polluting freshwater. More than 230 earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 3.0 have shaken the state of Oklahoma already this year. Past research has shown that processes such as wastewater injection at oil drilling and fracking sites could induce a small number of earthquakes in the vicinity but scientists have never been able to link some of the more distant or stronger earthquakes with these sometimes faraway wastewater wells. Read More http://ift.tt/1mIxte8