Citation

Weingarten M, Ge S, Godt JW, Bekins BA, Rubinstein JL. Science 2015; 348(6241): 1336-1340.

Affiliation

United States Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science)

DOI

10.1126/science.aab1345

PMID

26089509

Abstract

An unprecedented increase in earthquakes in the U.S. mid-continent began in 2009. Many of these earthquakes have been documented as induced by wastewater injection. We examine the relationship between wastewater injection and U.S. mid-continent seismicity using a newly assembled injection well database for the central and eastern United States. We find that the entire increase in earthquake rate is associated with fluid injection wells. High-rate injection wells (>300,000 barrels per month) are much more likely to be associated with earthquakes than lower-rate wells. At the scale of our study, a well's cumulative injected volume, monthly wellhead pressure, depth, and proximity to crystalline basement do not strongly correlate with earthquake association. Managing injection rates may be a useful tool to minimize the likelihood of induced earthquakes.

Language: en