Tuesday, June 28, 2011

"Fracking" and Earthquakes

There could be a correlation between drilling for natural gas in Arkansas and increased seismic activity near the location of the drills on the New Madrid fault.

According to Fox News, Steve Horton, a seismic geologist at the University of Memphis, reported that "90% of the seismic activity since 2009 has occurred within 6 Km of the wells."
Fracking is the process where wastewater from the drilling is injected back into rocks and salt water is formed.

To find out if there is a correlation, more data will have to be collected preceding the drilling and after to see if there is an increase in seismic activity. Scientific review can be a long process and cannot be determined in a short period of time to be valid.

1 comment:

  1. I agree with you. Science can be a slow process and more data is needed before we can conclude that natural gas drilling causes earthquakes.

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