(CTN News) – The county of Scurry in west Texas has seen so many earthquakes in the previous week—more than 100, as of the latest count—that local authorities have declared a state of emergency.
The first earthquake, which had a magnitude of 4.9, was felt on the night of July 22. According to Scurry County Judge Dan Hicks’ proclamation of disaster on Friday, “damage has been found throughout Scurry County in businesses and residences.”
The structures in the county are resilient enough to withstand the occasional little earthquake, but the combined impact of frequent smaller ones interspersed with bigger ones is becoming a reason for worry.
Hicks told the Abilene Reporter-News, a division of USA TODAY Network, that employees at the Scurry County Courthouse grew worried after a 5.0 earthquake that struck at 9:28 a.m. local time on Friday from his second-floor office. Pictures rocked against the walls, while trophies thumped within display cases.
According to Hicks, “the building was shaking pretty good.”
103 earthquakes in only eight days
In all, the county has seen 103 earthquakes since the first significant one of magnitude 4.9, with 12 of them being three or higher, according to Justin Rubinstein, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California.
Since Texas is not a very seismically active region of the nation, the recent wave of earthquakes is not a naturally occurring occurrence. Rather, Rubinstein said that it is “almost 99% likely” connected to nearby oil fields.
“We have no doubts that these are connected to the extraction of oil and gas,” he said.
The earthquakes are most likely related to recent developments in natural gas and oil drilling technologies that enable businesses to drill horizontally along an oil formation in addition to deeply into the ground.
Deeply buried reserves of natural gas and oil are being reached; these are the skeletal remains of extinct marine life. The saline water, which might be millions of years old, rises with the oil.
It is referred to as “produced water” and is abundant.
“Oil to seawater ratio is low. For every barrel of oil, there may be five, ten, or even twenty barrels of seawater,” Rubinstein said.
Because it may include pollutants like hydrocarbons, this ancient water cannot be dumped in rivers or the ocean as it is much saltier than ocean water.
Rather, saltwater disposal—a procedure that involves pumping the material back down below where it cannot seep into groundwater—must be carried out.
In turn, the massive volumes of water injected underground may trigger seismic activity. “We have data that suggests the most probable cause of the earthquakes in Scurry County is the discharge of seawater. Since 2020, there has been seismic activity in this particular location, according to Rubinstein.
Interpretation: You cannot feel earthquakes, although they occur often. A reference for their measurement
An earthquake’s intensity is determined by its magnitude. The moment magnitude scale is the official name for it. Because the scale is logarithmic, each number is ten times more powerful than the one before it. Thus, an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2 is considered moderate, whereas one with a magnitude of 6.2 is considered intense.
Texas is looking into the earthquakes
The Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees the oil and natural gas sector in the state, said on Friday that it was investigating potential links between the seismic activity and the injection of fluids underground to extract petroleum products.
“In efforts to reduce seismicity possibly caused by underground injection of produced water, several operators in the area have converted deep saltwater disposal wells to shallow saltwater disposal wells within the last year,” the Commission said in a statement.
Right now, saltwater disposal wells within two and a half miles of the earthquake cluster are being inspected by commission inspectors. “The RRC has shut in two deep disposal wells in the area following inspections, and staff will continue to monitor wells and seismicity data to mitigate earthquakes and protect the environment and residents in the region,” stated the press release.
Source: Yahoo News
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