I also think that there is no instance of this type of earthquake (due to injection of oilfield wastes).

One article based on the 'pore-pressure models' demonstrated that a combination of brine production and wastewater injection near the fault generated subsurface pressures sufficient to induce earthquakes on near-critically stressed faults.

Causal factors for seismicity near Azle, Texas

https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms7728

Regards

@Kenneth : find attached what Ahmad wrote on the subject

@Kenneth : find attached what Ahmad wrote on the subject

This issue is discussed by the US Geological Service.

In some locations, injection was found to enhance seismic activity, while in others, it was not.

E.g., see these four papers: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/induced/edge.php

E,g,, Ellsworth et al. " The space-time distribution of the increased seismicity, as well as numerous published case studies, indicates that the increase is of anthropogenic origin, principally driven by injection of wastewater coproduced with oil and gas from tight formations. "

For a list of all journal publications on this subject by USGS scientists since 1968, see

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/induced/references.php

The State of Oklahoma makes the following statement:

" There is general consensus among scientists that the spike in Oklahoma’s earthquake activity has been triggered by disposal wells, used to dispose of waste from oil and gas drilling operations — including hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” — a phenomenon known as “induced” seismicity. " Following review of studies, Oklahoma concluded " Injecting fluid into basement rock is considered a major risk factor for triggering earthquakes. " https://stateimpact.npr.org/oklahoma/tag/earthquakes/

Last week, the State of Oklahoma suggested that " Oklahoma experienced a dramatic drop in earthquakes in 2017 — a decline likely due, in part, to regulations limiting activity at oil-field disposal wells, scientists and experts say. New research suggests those regulations might be reducing some quakes more than others. " See https://stateimpact.npr.org/oklahoma/2018/02/05/new-research-limiting-volume-and-depth-of-disposal-wells-key-in-reducing-oklahoma-earthquakes/

which suggests that " In summary, we find that realistic parameter choices in the statistical model result in an increase in the probability of moderate earthquakes in 2017 by a factor of 2 over the reported probabilities by L&Z. "

For a recent study on injection and earthquakes in Oklahoma see: http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/11/e1601542.full

and comments on that article

http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/8/e1700441.full?intcmp=trendmd-adv

The British Geological Survey concludes that hydraulic fracking processes do not pose "high risk" for larger "felt earthquakes," but appear linked to small (less than 2.5) earthquakes, http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/research/FrackingInducedSeismicity.html

Dear Michael,

I found the papers very helpful and educative.

Thanks so much

USGS has several publications related to what they call "CO2 Utilization"

https://energy.usgs.gov/EnvironmentalAspects/EnvironmentalAspectsofEnergyProductionandUse/GeologicCO2Utilization.aspx

A summary by US GS scientist, Steven Anderson is here:

Article Cost Implications of Uncertainty in CO2 Storage Resource Est...

USGS has some related papers on carbon storage and ecosystem flux for Alaska, the eastern US, Great Plains and Western US individually, but these do not assess injection as a solution, but give baseline data for each region.

https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/has-usgs-made-any-biologic-carbon-sequestration-assessments?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products

Injection-Induced Earthquakes - A review by William L. Ellsworth.

You may read.

http://www3.geosc.psu.edu/Courses/GeomechanicsSeminar/Fall2015/EllsworthScience-2013-Ellsworth.pdf

Regards

Any major disturbances to subsurface material on earth, espetially in seismically active areas, must be considered cautiously. Fluide injections proved to cause induced seismicity, ( Denver in the USA is a famous example) of course on the other hand every earthquake or groupe of earthquakes seem to have their specific “personality”. Earthquakes and earthquake effects are functions of the source, the media and the local conditions where seismic waves propagate. All of them are variables for different areas so the response to “ stress disturbances or pollution” is also variable, meaning some injections in some environments will induce earthquakes others either will not or will do at a more extended time scale.

hello

i think it is over rated in large scale to something will happen due to injection