Research has identified 17 areas in the central and eastern United States with increased rates of induced seismicity. Image from U.S. Geological Survey.
As if being in the middle of Tornado Alley wasn’t enough, Oklahoma is now at the heart of Earthquake Country.
“The earthquake rate in Oklahoma has increased so significantly that it raises the risk of a larger damaging earthquake….Oklahomans should be concerned about this increased risk.” — William Leith, senior science advisor for earthquake hazards at the U.S. Geological Survey, as reported by ABC News
Oklahoma this week formally acknowledged what had long been thought, that a dramatic rise in temblors in the state was linked to oil and gas drilling – specifically, to wastewater injections into deep wells.
Scientists are trying to figure out exactly what the threat from induced earthquakes might be, and the USGS released a report on Thursday with preliminary models they hope will give them the ability “to calculate how often earthquakes are expected to occur in the next year and how hard the ground will likely shake as a result.”
“The USGS is developing methods that overcome the challenges in assessing seismic hazards in these regions in order to support decisions that help keep communities safe from ground shaking,” said Mark Petersen, chief of the USGS National Seismic Hazard Modeling Project.
