Induced Earthquakes Overview Active
As part of our work to better understand areas of induced earthquakes, the USGS installs seismometers in areas of increased seismicity, provides hazard estimations, and uses numerical models.
Increasing Rate of Earthquakes Beginning in 2009
The number of earthquakes in the central U.S. has increased dramatically over the past decade. Between the years 1973–2008, there was an average of 25 earthquakes of magnitude three and larger in the central and eastern United States. Since 2009, at least 58 earthquakes of this size have occurred each year, and at least 100 earthquakes of this size every year since 2013. The rate peaked in 2015 with 1010 M3+ earthquakes. Since 2015, earthquake rate has declined. In 2019, 130 M3+ earthquakes occurred in the same region. Nonetheless, this rate is far higher than the average of 25 earthquakes per year. Most of these earthquakes are in the magnitude 3–4 range — large enough to have been felt by many people—yet small enough to rarely cause damage. Damage has been caused by some of the larger events, including the M5.8 Pawnee and M5.0 Cushing Oklahoma earthquakes that occurred in 2016.
This increase in earthquakes prompts two important questions:
- Are they natural, or man-made?
- What should be done in the future as we address the causes and consequences of these events to reduce associated risks?
High-rate injection is associated with the increase in U.S. mid-continent seismicity
Structure of the Koyna-Warna Seismic Zone, Maharashtra, India: A possible model for large induced earthquakes elsewhere
Incorporating induced seismicity in the 2014 United States National Seismic Hazard Model: results of the 2014 workshop and sensitivity studies
Coping with earthquakes induced by fluid injection
Earthquake hypocenters and focal mechanisms in central Oklahoma reveal a complex system of reactivated subsurface strike-slip faulting
Causal factors for seismicity near Azle, Texas
Relationships among seismic velocity, metamorphism, and seismic and aseismic fault slip in the Salton Sea Geothermal Field region
Seismic monitoring at the Decatur, Ill., CO2 sequestration demonstration site
Shaking from injection-induced earthquakes in the central and eastern United States
Seismological and geodetic constraints on the 2011 Mw5.3 Trinidad, Colorado earthquake and induced deformation in the Raton Basin
The 2001-present induced earthquake sequence in the Raton Basin of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado
Seismicity, faulting, and structure of the Koyna-Warna seismic region, Western India from local earthquake tomography and hypocenter locations
As part of our work to better understand areas of induced earthquakes, the USGS installs seismometers in areas of increased seismicity, provides hazard estimations, and uses numerical models.
Increasing Rate of Earthquakes Beginning in 2009
The number of earthquakes in the central U.S. has increased dramatically over the past decade. Between the years 1973–2008, there was an average of 25 earthquakes of magnitude three and larger in the central and eastern United States. Since 2009, at least 58 earthquakes of this size have occurred each year, and at least 100 earthquakes of this size every year since 2013. The rate peaked in 2015 with 1010 M3+ earthquakes. Since 2015, earthquake rate has declined. In 2019, 130 M3+ earthquakes occurred in the same region. Nonetheless, this rate is far higher than the average of 25 earthquakes per year. Most of these earthquakes are in the magnitude 3–4 range — large enough to have been felt by many people—yet small enough to rarely cause damage. Damage has been caused by some of the larger events, including the M5.8 Pawnee and M5.0 Cushing Oklahoma earthquakes that occurred in 2016.
This increase in earthquakes prompts two important questions:
- Are they natural, or man-made?
- What should be done in the future as we address the causes and consequences of these events to reduce associated risks?