fracking.......

At least one study has linked some of the minor Oklahoma quakes to fracking. The Oklahoma Geological Survey's report, released in August, found a series of small quakes detected in Garvin County in January occurred at the same time fracking operations were underway.

In Ohio, many Youngstown residents are wondering if a recently opened disposal well triggered the region's first-ever recorded quakes.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/sc....

Trying to link 'Fracking' with Earthquakes pegs my bull**** meter to 11. I just can't buy it.

How deep do they go when fracking?

Get your hard-Hat, or,, err Tin-Foil on...

you know what "Fracking is right? I presume?

Holes, drilled thousands of feet into geological "formations" of long ago, where gas is trapped in tiny porus spaces of rock...

Unlike "OIL" which is held under salt domes, or "capped" by a hard formation on top of it.. this "GAS/OIL" is "trapped very tightly under pressure/depth of the formation.. So it's drill to depth, then *horisionalty*>sp< then blasted, (with secret ingrediants)..LOL.. opening & causing cracks/fissues to release the product.

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On Nov. 5, an earthquake measuring 5.6 rattled Oklahoma and was felt as far away as Illinois. Until two years ago, Oklahoma typically had about 50 earthquakes a year, but in 2010, 1,047 quakes shook the state.

Why? In Lincoln County, where most of this past weekend's seismic incidents were centered, there are 181 injection wells, according to Matt Skinner, an official from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the agency that oversees oil and gas production in the state. Both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Geological Survey have concluded that the practice of injecting water into deep rock formations causes earthquakes.

http://www.worldpress.org/Americas/3836.....

And you also have heard about people water wells lighting up w/gas after Fracking up in PA...

Of course this is after "Shale Gas"... So here the Wiki on it...

Quote:

Shale gas in the United States is rapidly increasing as a source of natural gas. Led by new applications of hydraulic fracturing technology and horizontal drilling, development of new sources of shale gas has offset declines in production from conventional gas reservoirs, and has led to major increases in reserves of US natural gas. Largely due to shale gas discoveries, estimated reserves of natural gas in the United States in 2008 were 35% higher than in 2006.[1]

In 2007, shale gas fields included the #2 (Barnett/Newark East) and #13 (Antrim) sources of natural gas in the United States in terms of gas volumes produced.[2]

The economic success of shale gas in the United States since 2000 has led to rapid development of shale gas in Canada, and, more recently, has spurred interest in shale gas possibilities in Europe, Asia, and Australia.

U.S. shale deposits also cross over into Canadian provinces, such as Ontario.[3

Read more @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shale_gas_i....
But anyway...

From what I have been reading, it is the "disposal wells" that accompany the fracking process that is causing the problems. I live in the Marcellus and Utica shale areas and we are having the debates here. But there are multiple locations investigating the link between the earthquakes and processes associated with fracking:

"stud­ies have linked deep well injec­tions, which is part of nat­ural gas pro­duc­tion, with earth­quakes. Some stud­ies look­ing at the earth­quake con­nec­tion to frack­ing are ongo­ing. Sci­en­tists with the British Geo­log­i­cal Sur­vey are study­ing the link between small earth­quakes near Back­pool, Eng­land, and frack­ing. All drilling in the area was halted after two earth­quakes occurred about a month apart last spring. Results from that inves­ti­ga­tion should be released at the end of October.

Just last week, Arkansas reg­u­la­tors banned the use of deep injec­tion wells to store waste­water after they found the activ­ity caused a rise in small earth­quakes last win­ter. The Arkansas Geo­log­i­cal Sur­vey told the AP last July that seis­mic activ­ity decreased dra­mat­i­cally once the wells were shut down. The Arkansas Oil and Gas Com­mis­sion has not banned frack­ing, only the use of wells to dis­pose of wastewater.

http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/....

There is really no oil and gas activity in the vacinity of these quakes to speak of.

Of course it cannot just me mother nature. Must blame humans somehow,

Blairkeil - I think you're right.

If Marcellus Shale fracking was causing earthquakes, you'd think northern Pennsylvania would be shaking all over the place. But, no, while Lancaster area (quite a bit south of the Marcellus formation) has occasional small quakes, up toward the north they may have felt the big DC quake, but DC is a long way from the Marcellus formation. Back in the day there was apparently a pretty big (comparetively speaking) earthquake under Lake Erie that caused a bit of a tidal wave. If that would recur, I'm sure fracking would get the blame there as well...

TIN FOIL, you are correct, Darth. Fracing wells does not produce earthquakes, either. If that was the case then south Texas would be rumbling every day.

If you believe it does generate earthquakes then your are geologically challenged, physics challenged, no grasp of hydraulics or oil and gas production.

I have worked as a completions engineer the South Texas Wilcox and Vicksburg formations (FRACING WELLS). Currently working the Eagleford and Wolfcamp shale plays in Texas(Fracing Shales). The representation that drilling a 6" hole in a square mile creates instability in the geological structure is so preposterous, I shouldn't even be wasting my time.

Yeah. I have a hard time believing its due to fracking as well. I just didnt know how deep they went.

Depth can very from 1000 ft, ie the Squirrel formation in southeast Kansas; 17000 ft in the Wilcox in South Texas.

You can only propogate a frac only to the point the leakoff rate is less than the pump rate. Once the frac extends enough to provide enough surface area to absorb the injection rate the fracture stops.

We have siesmic data, from observation wells while fracing, the fracture doesn't even fracture out of the shales due to its thickness. We can pump as much as 250,000 bbls of fluid and 4 million lbs of sand. We open the wells to flow and all the energy is release as the liquids flow back.

The sandstone fracs are contained in the sand and halted at the shale barriers usually above and below the sands.

FWIW, OK had a 5.5 in 1952: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/s....

Fracking time travelers

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There is really no oil and gas activity in the vacinity of these quakes to speak of.

I don't know about a connection w/ fracking or not ... but that's bull****. There is a ton of fracking occurring in this and adjoining counties. I've been there, looked at land to buy, etc.

Fracking-causes-earthquakes is 100% tinfoil. -- While a weak earthquake, a magnitude 5 represents a massive amount of energy being released.

It's like blaming a flea for an elephant's rampage.

I'd worry more about tornadoes than I would earthquakes in Oklahoma

Exactly Bezzle. The energy we apply to frac wells, is infinitesimal. Compared to the energy requirements to move regional geologic structures. Or to forces that have to be applied and then released to even have an earthquake.

I'd have to agree that the drilling and fracking process couldn't cause earthquakes. The only remotely reasonable correlation I could entertain is if it's related to depressurization from the removal of material. How quickly does the pressure drop at the well as hydrocarbons are extracted? Somewhat analogous situation I'm picturing is the large energy release say from an avalanche or rock slide that is triggered by a much smaller energy input, or a collapse from digging into the bottom of a cliff, or punching a small hole into a dam. While not an elephant, a flea can certainly cause a dog to rampage.

Tally correct me if im wrong, but isnt the gas replaced with water/frac material???

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I'd worry more about tornadoes than I would earthquakes in Oklahoma

A couple of weeks ago we had both in the same day.

"If Marcellus Shale fracking was causing earthquakes, you'd think northern Pennsylvania would be shaking all over the place" -Sirius55

Just reporting some of my reading, and this website reports that Pennsylvania does not dispose of fluids in the ground; so maybe it is the disposal wells causing the problems:::

"In other parts of the United States, gas drilling operations dispose of their wastewater deep in the ground, by using deep injection wells. However, the geology around Marcellus Shale doesn't lend itself as well to accepting deep injections, so the wastewater gets dumped back into Pennsylvania waterways."
http://www.marcellus-shale.us/drilling_w....