Computer model and field experiment data propose a new link between subsurface injections and earthquake swarms. MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE,Mass. (May 3, 2019) — Using data from field experiments and modeling of ground faults, or researchers at Tufts University possess discovered that the practice of subsurface fluid injection used in ‘fracking’ and wastewater disposal for oil and gas exploration could cause significant,rapidly spreading earthquake activity beyond the fluid diffusion zone. Deep fluid injections -- greater than one kilometer deep -- are known to be associated with enhanced seismic activity—often thought to be limited to the areas of fluid diffusion.
Source: tufts.edu