The practice of injecting oil well
wastewater deep underground has activated faults in the area to the extent that the state is rattled hundreds of times a year.
Injecting
wastewater deep underground as a byproduct of oil and gas extraction techniques that include fracking causes human - made earthquakes, the lead author of new research from Arizona State University said Thursday.
Injecting
wastewater deep underground is the prime suspect, potentially widening earthquake worries linked to hydraulic fracturing
Not exact matches
The cause, scientists say, is injecting
wastewater from oil and gas operations into
deep underground wells.
In Western states, most drilling
wastewater is injected
deep underground for permanent storage.
Often, it is most economical to geologically sequester such
wastewaters by injecting them
underground,
deep below any aquifers that provide drinking water.
Fracking
wastewater is laden with chemicals used to drill and frack the well and may also contain radioactive compounds and heavy metals released from
deep underground.
Much of that must be buried
deep underground, and the discharge of contaminated
wastewater used in recycling has angered neighboring countries, he said.
To dispose of this
wastewater, the liquid is re-injected into geologic formations
deep underground.
Disposing of
wastewater by injecting it into impermeable rock formations
deep underground is standard practice in oil - and gas - drilling hotbeds such as Texas — only the rock under Pennsylvania is not porous enough to contain it.
Texas has many
deep underground injection wells, regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where companies dispose of the salty and chemical - and mineral - laden shale
wastewater.
In addition, the injection of
wastewater from oil and gas operations for disposal into
deep underground wells is also altering the stresses of geologic faults, unleashing earthquakes [140].22 Increases in the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events can impact agriculture and ecosystems [71,141].