Printed prior to yesterday's quake- Fracking may be causing OK quakes

http://www.eenews.net/public/eenewspm/2011/11/02/1

Hydraulic fracturing may be in for a bumpy ride.

A previously unreported study out of the Oklahoma Geological Survey has found that hydraulic fracturing may have triggered a swarm of small earthquakes earlier this year in Oklahoma. The quakes, which struck on Jan. 18 in a rural area near Elmore City, peaked at magnitude 2.8 and caused no deaths or property damage.

The study, currently being prepared for peer review, follows news today that Cuadrilla Resources, a British shale gas developer, has found that it was "highly probable" its fracturing operations caused minor quakes of magnitude 2.3 and 1.5 in Lancashire, England (Greenwire, Nov. 2). The Cuadrilla study could complicate the expansion of hydraulic fracturing for shale gas in risk-averse Europe, where France has already banned the practice.

Fears of induced minor earthquakes have already complicated development of geothermal energy in regions like Nevada and Switzerland. Triggered earthquakes have also been tied to the long-standing American practice of injecting wastewater into wells. However, most geologists doubt that fracturing can muster similar seismic activity.

USGS website has been at the exact same spot. That's NOT how normal earthquakes happen.

I've read where earthquakes were not such a fequent occurance there until recently.

I lived there for 6 years before we had any detectable quakes. This is two big (for Oklahoma) quakes in a little over a year. Craziness. I'm in Ohio now, but my husband is still down there for work.

Energy says we have $500 billion worth of gas under eastern Ohio. Chesapeake said Friday they have plans to drill 50 wells a year in eastern Ohio now thru 2016. They also bought 30 acres here to build a new office complex. Our landowners are getting rich of the gas boom. My next door neighbor sold his gas rights on 100 acres for $500,000. They say a good well will produce enough royalties to pay out $2,000,000 over twenty years on 100 acres.

http://theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/561392/Chesapeake-Seeks-Utica-Expansion---.html

It could be that it was only a matter of time before this quake occurred, and fracking may have simply facilitated the movement of the region's tectonic plates, which have been moving about for billions of years.

We could find an active fault line, frack it and see if it is enough to move the plates.

Most geologists agree that it is only a matter of time before a major quake occurs on the San Andreas Fault line. It would be interesting to know if something like fracking could be utilized to prevent major earthquakes by causing multiple quakes of less severity.

I have no idea what I am trying to explain and for all I know fracking the San Andreas Fault, might actually trigger the "big one." Than again, it might have no effect at all.