Do all wastewater disposal wells induce earthquakes?
No. Of more than 150,000 Class II injection wells in the United States, roughly 40,000 are waste fluid disposal wells for oil and gas operations. Only a small fraction of these disposal wells have induced earthquakes that are large enough to be of concern to the public.
Learn more on wastewater disposal wells and the EPA's Underground Injection Control (UIC) program.
Related Content
What work is the USGS doing to better understand the occurrence of injection-induced earthquakes?
Oklahoma now has more earthquakes on a regular basis than California. Are they due to fracking?
How large are the earthquakes induced by fluid injection?
Are earthquakes induced by fluid-injection activities always located close to the point of injection?
Is there any possibility that a wastewater injection activity could interact with a nearby fault to trigger a major earthquake that causes extensive damage over a broad region?
Does the production of natural gas from shales cause earthquakes? If so, how are the earthquakes related to these operations?
How does the injection of wastewater at depth cause earthquakes?
Is it possible to anticipate whether a planned wastewater disposal activity will trigger earthquakes that are large enough to be of concern?
Potentially induced earthquakes during the early twentieth century in the Los Angeles Basin
Recent studies have presented evidence that early to mid‐twentieth‐century earthquakes in Oklahoma and Texas were likely induced by fossil fuel production and/or injection of wastewater (Hough and Page, 2015; Frohlich et al., 2016). Considering seismicity from 1935 onward, Hauksson et al. (2015) concluded...
Hough, Susan E.; Page, Morgan T. Reactivated faulting near Cushing, Oklahoma: Increased potential for a triggered earthquake in an area of United States strategic infrastructure
In October 2014 two moderate-sized earthquakes (Mw 4.0 and 4.3) struck south of Cushing, Oklahoma, below the largest crude oil storage facility in the world. Combined analysis of the spatial distribution of earthquakes and regional moment tensor focal mechanisms indicate reactivation of a subsurface unnamed and unmapped left-lateral strike-slip...
McNamara, Daniel E.; Hayes, Gavin; Benz, Harley M.; Williams, Robert; McMahon, Nicole D; Aster, R.C.; Holland, Austin F.; Sickbert, T; Herrmann, Robert B.; Briggs, Richard W.; Smoczyk, Gregory M.; Bergman, Eric; Earle, Paul S. Myths and facts on wastewater injection, hydraulic fracturing, enhanced oil recovery, and induced seismicity
The central United States has undergone a dramatic increase in seismicity over the past 6 years (Fig. 1), rising from an average of 24 M≥3 earthquakes per year in the years 1973–2008 to an average of 193 M≥3 earthquakes in 2009–2014, with 688 occurring in 2014 alone. Multiple damaging earthquakes have occurred during this...
Rubinstein, Justin L.; Mahani, Alireza Babaie Sharp increase in central Oklahoma seismicity 2009-2014 induced by massive wastewater injection
Unconventional oil and gas production provides a rapidly growing energy source; however high-producing states in the United States, such as Oklahoma, face sharply rising numbers of earthquakes. Subsurface pressure data required to unequivocally link earthquakes to injection are rarely accessible. Here we use seismicity and hydrogeological models...
Keranen, Kathleen M.; Abers, Geoffrey A.; Weingarten, Matthew; Bekins, Barbara A.; Ge, Shemin Shaking from injection-induced earthquakes in the central and eastern United States
In this study I consider the ground motions generated by 11 moderate (Mw4.0-5.6) earthquakes in the central and eastern United States that are thought or suspected to be induced by fluid injection. Using spatially rich intensity data from the USGS “Did You Feel It?” system, I show that the distance decay of intensities for all events is...
Hough, Susan E. Potentially induced earthquakes in Oklahoma, USA: links between wastewater injection and the 2011 Mw 5.7 earthquake sequence
Significant earthquakes are increasingly occurring within the continental interior of the United States, including five of moment magnitude (Mw) ≥ 5.0 in 2011 alone. Concurrently, the volume of fluid injected into the subsurface related to the production of unconventional resources continues to rise. Here we identify the largest earthquake...
Keranen, Katie M.; Savage, Heather M.; Abers, Geoffrey A.; Cochran, Elizabeth S.
Wastewater Disposal Likely Induced February 2016 Magnitude 5.1 Oklahoma Earthquake
Distant wastewater disposal wells likely induced the third largest earthquake in recent Oklahoma record, the Feb. 13, 2016, magnitude 5.1 event roughly 32 kilometers northwest of Fairview, Oklahoma. These findings from the U.S. Geological Survey are available in the online edition of Geophysical Research Letters.
EarthWord – Induced Seismicity
The occurrence or frequency of earthquakes for which the origin is attributable to human activities.
Induced Earthquakes Raise Chances of Damaging Shaking in 2016
For the first time, new USGS maps identify the potential for ground shaking from both human-induced and natural earthquakes in 2016.
A Century of Induced Earthquakes in Oklahoma?
The rate of earthquakes has increased sharply since 2009 in the central and eastern United States, with growing evidence confirming that these earthquakes are primarily caused by human activity, namely the injection of wastewater in deep disposal wells.
Coping with Earthquakes Induced by Fluid Injection
MENLO PARK, Calif.— A paper published today in Science provides a case for increasing transparency and data collection to enable strategies for mitigating the effects of human-induced earthquakes caused by wastewater injection associated with oil and gas production in the United States.
2011 Oklahoma Induced Earthquake May Have Triggered Larger Quake
In a new study involving researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey, scientists observed that a human-induced magnitude 5.0 earthquake near Prague, Oklahoma in November 2011 may have triggered the larger M5.7 earthquake less than a day later.
PubTalk 5/2018 — Yes Humans really are causing induced earthquakes
Title: Yes, Humans Really Are Causing Earthquakes! How Energy Industry Practices are Causing Earthquakes in America's Heartland
- In every year since 2014, Oklahoma has had more earthquakes than California.
- Oil and gas operations are "inducing" these earthquakes.
- The earthquake rate has dropped by more than 50 percent due to changes in industry
USGS 2016 and 2017 Forecasts for Damage from Earthquakes in Oklahoma
USGS maps comparing the potential to experience damage from a natural or human-induced earthquake in Oklahoma in 2016 and 2017.
Damage in Cushing, Oklahoma from the Magnitude 5.0 Earthquake in 2016
Damage to buildings in Cushing, Oklahoma from the magnitude 5.0 earthquake on November 6, 2016. Unreinforced brick and stone masonry buildings and facades are vulnerable to strong shaking. Photograph credit: Dolan Paris, USGS
Damage in Cushing, Oklahoma from the Magnitude 5.0 Earthquake in 2016
Damage to buildings in Cushing, Oklahoma from the magnitude 5.0 earthquake on November 6, 2016. Unreinforced brick and stone masonry buildings and facades are vulnerable to strong shaking. Photograph credit: Dolan Paris, USGS
Damage in central Oklahoma from a magnitude 5.6 earthquake in 2011
House damage in central Oklahoma from the magnitude 5.6 earthquake on Nov. 6, 2011. Research conducted by USGS geophysicist Elizabeth Cochran and her university-based colleagues suggests that this earthquake was induced by injection into deep disposal wells in the Wilzetta North field. Credit: Brian Sherrod, USGS
Potential map damage from natural or human-induced quake (2016)
USGS map displaying potential to experience damage from a natural or human-induced earthquake in 2016. Chances range from less than one percent to 12 percent.
Wastewater Disposal Facility in Colorado
Oilfield waste arrives by tanker truck at a wastewater disposal facility near Platteville, Colo. After removal of solids and oil, the wastewater is injected into a deep well for permanent storage underground. This disposal process has the potential to trigger earthquakes, but very few wastewater disposal wells produce earthquakes. No earthquakes are associated with
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Research has identified 17 areas in the central and eastern United States with increased rates of induced seismicity.
Research has identified 17 areas in the central and eastern United States with increased rates of induced seismicity. Since 2000, several of these areas have experienced high levels of seismicity, with substantial increases since 2009 that continue today.
Installation of seismometers to monitor induced seismicity
Bryant Platt digs a hole to install seismometers at a home in southern Kansas. Seismometers are in the foreground.