Several earthquakes today, many in last few months. Question.

Is there any correlation between the increased number of earthquakes and the huge amount of oil and gas we remove from deep under ground? When oil and gas are displaced, what fills the void? Does this removal weaken the placement of plates causing things to shift?

I know there are thousands of quakes all over the world but some seem to be occurring in less likely places and many seem to be more severe.

Just curious.

We are/were taking oil from around Haiti..and other unusual quakes could possibly because of human intervention, like the big quake in China Sichuan area that is some miles from a large dam(I forget 3 gorges?).

It's an ecological disaster in the Gulf, and makes a mess in the comparatively very thin layer of the planet that contains nearly all living organisms, but on the scale of the bulk of the planet, the oil reservoir is a barely noticeable dimple, like a fine scratch on a billiard ball compared to the whole ball. There are much, much more massive forces in action all of the time within out planet.

In reality, the number of earthquakes hasn't really increased much, if at all. We just hear about every one now, due to the 24/7 news cycle. Most of the earthquakes are not occurring anywhere near large oil development sites. While drawing down oil reserves can, indeed, cause earthquakes, such earthquakes are localized and generally small. The phenomenon has been well-studied in oil-producing areas.

Further, as with the Indonesian earthquakes today, the depth of the quake is far, far below the depths ever reached by oil drilling or oil deposits. The Alaskan earthquake is typical for that region, and has nothing to do with oil drilling, which takes place on a completely different tectonic plate.

I do check the world wide Incident Map every day.
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php?area=usa&lang=eng

It lists all sorts of events around the world in topic heading columns below the map.

6.7 quakes in Alaska ???? Yikes.

AK has always had LOTS of seismic activity.

Q: Does drilling for oil and gas cause or trigger earthquakes?

A: Research carried out by UTIG scientists suggests that earthquakes in some parts of Texas may be induced by the pumping of fluids at oil and gas fields, or by the injection of fluids to dispose of chemical wastes. The earthquakes in the Fashing-Pleasanton area southeast of San Antonio are almost certainly caused by or triggered by pumping; such earthquakes also seem to occur in the Texas Panhandle near Snyder, Texas.

Source: http://web.ig.utexas.edu/research/projects/eq/faq/tx.htm?PHPSESSID=97a563df129016c20e69829a91da7c13

Exxon Extracted about 1 cubic mile of natural gas at Aceh epicenter

I have been researching the claim of the earthquake on Aceh (Indonesia 12/26/2004) earthquake and tsunami caused by Oil/Gas drilling.
It seems that EXXON has a 60 BSCF/day facility near Aceh and in 4 years it withdraws the equal of about 1+ Cubic Mile of Natural Gas from the formations directly at Epicenter of the Earthquake.

Also note that the gas field there has been producing for quite some time not just 4 years.

It is also interesting to note that earthquakes in the order 4.0 have been caused by oil drilling etc for some time.

There have been earthquakes associated with large Hydro Dams for example Fontana Dam (USTVA North Carolina) has been associated with up to 4.0 earthquakes and routinely causes 2.5 some 50+ years after construction. I would expect the 3 Gorges Dam in China to create 7.0 or larger earthquakes and this represents pressures and masses in the same order as the Oil/Gas stuff. While I have no doubt of the regional earthquake history I could easily suspect a real and substantial component to the event of 12/26/2004.

Source: http://pesn.com/2005/01/12/6900060_Oil_Earthquakes_and_Tsunamis/earlier_draft.htm

Is Oil and Gas Drilling Causing Earthquakes in Oklahoma?
Posted: May 26, 2010 8:03 PM PDT Updated: Jun 24, 2010 8:31 PM PDT

Between 1977 and 2008, there were a total of 28 earthquakes recorded in Oklahoma and Lincoln Counties. However, in the last year and a half, there have been 134.
Many have asked if the oil and gas industry has had anything to do with the recent increase in quakes in Oklahoma.

... snip ...

Stump and other geologists said production wells have not been tied to earthquakes, but disposal wells, where the saltwater and other fluids used in oil and gas production are injected back into the earth have been shown, in some cases, to cause small quakes.

"Fluids of all kinds, when they're injected underground, do, in some cases, induce small earthquakes," Stump said.

Source: http://www.news9.com/global/story.asp?s=12550453

It breathes earthquakes constantly. It's one of the most active volcanic and earthquake zones in the world.

http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/images/RIM_of_FIRE_gif_image.html

Are Earthquakes Really on the Increase?
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/increase_in_earthquakes.php
Earthquake Facts and Statistics
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/year/eqstats.php

We continue to be asked by many people throughout the world if earthquakes are on the increase. Although it may seem that we are having more earthquakes, earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or greater have remained fairly constant.

A partial explanation may lie in the fact that in the last twenty years, we have definitely had an increase in the number of earthquakes we have been able to locate each year. This is because of the tremendous increase in the number of seismograph stations in the world and the many improvements in global communications. In 1931, there were about 350 stations operating in the world; today, there are more than 8,000 stations and the data now comes in rapidly from these stations by electronic mail, internet and satellite. This increase in the number of stations and the more timely receipt of data has allowed us and other seismological centers to locate earthquakes more rapidly and to locate many small earthquakes which were undetected in earlier years. The NEIC now locates about 20,000 earthquakes each year or approximately 50 per day. Also, because of the improvements in communications and the increased interest in the environment and natural disasters, the public now learns about more earthquakes.

According to long-term records (since about 1900), we expect about 17 major earthquakes (7.0 - 7.9) and one great earthquake (8.0 or above) in any given year.