The seismologist said that oil and gas drilling caused the largest earthquake in Alberta’s history

Last November, the Canadian province of Alberta was hit by the largest earthquake in its recorded history. Shortly thereafter, a University of Calgary geologist who claimed that the chain of seismic events—which recorded a magnitude of 5.6 when it shook homes to their bones and brought residents to their knees—told a local newspaper that the quake was likely “natural.” Natural events usually occur in those depths.”

“Earthquakes of similar magnitude to the Peace River event can be devastating, even deadly, if they occur in more densely populated areas. It is important to understand the mechanisms involved and how to avoid triggering more of these events.”

Now, a Stanford seismologist has come to a different conclusion—that the quake was caused by the dumping of wastewater from nearby fracturing, a controversial drilling method for natural gas and oil that involves injecting high-pressure liquid deep into the earth.

“This incident was caused by a wastewater disposal,” seismologist Ryan Schultz told the Canadian Press Thursday. The post indicates that there is a deep earthquake disposal well near the earthquake site. At this site, businessmen use oil correction techniques including injecting miles of sewage underground for fracking, and these methods can actually cause earthquakes. This specific site already contains more than 1 million cubic meters of wastewater injected below the surface of the earth.

“Earthquake clusters were on top of the deep disposal well,” Schultz told the publication, referring to a paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters he co-authored with scientists at the University of Alberta as well as Natural Resources Canada. . The new study argues that the injected water, which ended up entering a deep subsurface crack, reduced enough the friction holding the two sides together that slip eventually occurred, causing the surface to vibrate.

“We had somewhere between 89 and 97 percent confidence in time,” Schultz explained. “There is enough information to start making these kinds of connections.”

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Co-author William Ellsworth, research professor of geophysics and co-director of the Stanford Center for Induced and Induced Earthquakes, said in a statement that “The Peace River earthquake caught our attention because it occurred in an unusual location. Multiple lines of convincing evidence indicate that this earthquake was man-made.”

Perhaps the most convincing evidence is what can be seen with the naked eye. According to a public statement regarding the study, satellite observations captured a “dramatic 3.4 cm rise in the ground at the time of the November earthquake,” one of which was produced because “the large volume of discharged sewage increased water pressure on the fault, weakened it, and made it susceptible to slipping.

Schultz even made an ominous prediction: “Earthquakes of similar magnitude to the Peace River event can be devastating, even deadly, if they occur in populated areas. It is important to understand the mechanisms involved and how to avoid triggering more of these events.”

The revelation has implications for climate change. One common proposal to mitigate the effects of carbon pollution is to capture waste carbon dioxide and pump it deep underground. The theory is that in doing so, industries can continue to engage in practices that produce this type of waste without harming the environment. However, if CCS leads to the same seismic dynamics as fracking wastewater, there may already be damage through this method.

“If carbon sequestration is going to be done on a scale that combats climate change, large amounts of volume have to be put into the ground,” Schultz explained. “You might also expect to increase the magnitude of these types of earthquakes that store them.”

In November, Rebecca Salvage of the University of Calgary who works with the Alberta Geological Survey said the quake started at least six kilometers underground, and so was likely too deep to be artificial.

“The depth indicates that it is likely to be normal. Normal events usually occur at those depths,” Salvage said at the time.

Matthew Rosa is a professional writer whose work has appeared in numerous national media outlets since 2012 and exclusively in Salon since 2016. He received a master’s degree in history from Rutgers-Newark in 2012, was a guest on Fox Business in 2019, and has repeatedly warned about Trump’s impending refusal to concede during the 2020 election, spoke at the Commonwealth Club of California in 2021, was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022 and appeared on NPR in 2023. His diverse interests are reflected in his interviews including: President Jimmy Carter (1977-1981), Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak (1999-2001), zoologist and autism activist Temple Grandin, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (1997-2001), director Jason Reitman (“The Front Runner”), inventor Ernie Rubik, Comedian Bill Burr (“F Is for Family”), novelist James Patterson (“The President’s Daughter”), epidemiologist Monica Gandhi, theoretical cosmologist Jana Levine, voice actor Rob Boles (“Animaniacs”), mRNA vaccine pioneer Catalin Carico , Philosopher of Science Vincien Despert, Actor Georges Takei (“Star Trek”), climatologist Michael E. Mann, World War II historian Joshua Levine (adviser for “Dunkirk”), Washington Governor Jay Inslee (2013-present), canine cognition researcher Alexandra Horowitz, liberal presidential candidate Gary Johnson ( 2012, 2016), comedian and writer Larry Charles (“Seinfeld”), seismologist John Vidal, Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Lieberman (2000), Ambassador Michael McFaul (2012-2014), economist Richard Wolf, director Kevin Grottert (” Saw VI”), model Lescola Cohen, actor Rodger Bompas (“SpongeBob Squarepants”), Senator John Hickenlooper (2021-present), Senator Martin Heinrichs (2013-present), Egyptologist Richard Parkinson, Rep. Eric Swalwell (2013-present). Now), Fox News host Tucker Carlson, actor RJ Mitty (“Breaking Bad”), theoretical physicist Avi Loeb, biologist and genomics entrepreneur William Haseltine, comedian David Cross (“Scary Movie 2”), Linguistics Consultant Paul Frommer (“Avatar”), Maryland Governor Martin Ummal J (2007-2015), computer engineer and Internet inventor Leonard Kleinrock and right-wing Rebellion member Roger Stone.

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