Researchers have discovered a new type of earthquake caused by hydraulic fracturing

A Canadian-German research team has detected a new type of earthquake at an injection site in British Columbia, Canada. The newly discovered earthquake is slower and lasts longer than conventional earthquakes of the same magnitude.

(Photo: Getty Images)

A new type of induced earthquake

Events are a new form of induced earthquakes caused by hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing is a technology used by western Canada to extract oil and gas.

Researchers from the Geological Survey of Canada, Ruhr-Universität Bochum and McGill University used a network of eight stations surrounding an injection well a few kilometers away to collect seismic data from about 350 earthquakes.

About 10% of the earthquakes detected had unusual characteristics, indicating that they ruptured more slowly, compared to what was previously seen only in volcanic regions, according to Phys.org.

Researchers have proposed two theories to explain the occurrence of earthquakes during the hydraulic fracturing process so far. According to the first theory, the fluid injected into the rock causes a significant pressure rise in the bedrock surrounding the well, which leads to the formation of a new network of cracks.

As a result, the pressure rise may be large enough to remove existing faults and cause an earthquake. The rise in fluid pressure from subsurface injection also causes elastic stress changes in the surrounding rock, which can be transported over larger distances, according to the second process.

If stress changes occur in rocks with faults, they may cause the fault to slide, resulting in an earthquake.

Read also: Supercomputer’s 700,000-year-old earthquake simulation can predict its time

Troubleshooting near injection wells

Numerical models and recent laboratory analyzes have predicted mechanism on faults near injection wells seen on tectonic faults elsewhere. The process, known as seismic slip, begins as a slow slide without the release of seismic energy.

Slow slip may also produce a shift in stress on adjacent faults, causing them to slide more quickly resulting in an earthquake.

It is difficult to see in nature due to the absence of seismic energy from seismic slip and the magnitude of the faults involved. As a result, researchers have not been able to link seismic slippage to earthquakes produced in a broad sense.

Indirect evidence for seismic loading and the shift from seismic to seismic slip is provided by the current investigation.

Change the hydraulic fracturing process

The newly observed slow earthquakes are viewed by the German-Canadian research team as a combination of conventional earthquakes and seismic slip – and thus as indirect evidence that seismic slip may occur near wells. As a result, scientists called the occurrence of wave-hybrid frequency (EHW) earthquakes.

“If we understand at what point subsurface fracturing is interacting with movements that do not result in an earthquake and therefore do no damage to the surface, it is best to use this information to adjust the injection procedure accordingly,” described Rebecca Harrington, Head of Hydrogeomechanics Group at RUB. , one of the results of the study.

According to Rebecca Harrington, scientists have assumed that induced earthquakes rupture at a rate of 2 to 3 kilometers per hour, as with most other types of earthquakes.

But this does not appear to be the case on a regular basis in the researchers’ data set, a conventional earthquake measuring 1.5 on the Richter scale shook for about seven seconds, while an EHW earthquake of the same magnitude lasted for more than ten seconds.

Related article: 8 Most Disastrous and Deadliest Earthquakes of the Last Decade

For more news and updates on earthquakes and similar topics, don’t forget to follow Nature World News!

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