Archived British Columbias 4.6m Fracking Earthquake (cleantechnica.com)
submitted ago by Distinctlyavoidtruth
Posted by: Distinctlyavoidtruth
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Archived on: 2/12/2017 1:51:00 AM
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Archived British Columbias 4.6m Fracking Earthquake (cleantechnica.com)
submitted ago by Distinctlyavoidtruth
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[–] Skeletor 0 points 5 points 5 points (+5|-0) ago
Ok, something I don't get. My hometown has been Fracking for 50ish years for natural gas. What's different about Oil Fracking that "Causes" earthquakes?
ELI5 please, My work day is about to speed up and won't have read a wall of text.
[–] crotchcritters 0 points 14 points 14 points (+14|-0) ago
It shouldn't matter whether they are fracking an oil or natural gas well. What does matter is how seismically active the area is, especially at the depth they injecting. Think of fracking as a catalyst for earthquakes, not a sole cause. It can't cause earthquakes in seismically inactive areas but can lower the threshold for an event in active areas. This is why earthquakes caused by fracking are generally lower magnitude. These earthquakes are triggered prematurely, before the amount of energy needed for a naturally-occurring earthquake is built up. Source: Am a wellsite geologist.
[–] Gamio 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I think the only difference is the fracking fluid and rocks involved, I think, and I could be wrong here, that oil and gas that is being fracked are in two separate types of rock as in one kind of rock might contain the natural gas you're after and require a different fluid mixture to fracture it in the most appropriate way (big cracks or small ones) and rock that has oil is contained in a different kind of rock requiring another fluid mix.