2014 Oklahoma Earthquake Discussion

[venture]

Fracking's Latest Scandal? Earthquake Swarms | Mother Jones

I don't want to take this thread too far of course in discussing possible fracking implications, but last thing the Oklahoma O&G industry need is a proven link between fracking/water injection and earthquakes. There is tremendous special interest on both sides of this debate. Look in from the outside though, could you imagine the hammer that would be brought down on them should a 6.0+ (significant) quake occur with widespread damage? The lawsuits would run them completely out of the business. Not to mention the state would see significant, devastating impacts to revenue streams if production has to be shut down anywhere near the faults in the state.

My feeling though is, whether or not the drilling reactivate the fault or not, the cat is out of the bag and there isn't going to be anything we can do now to stop it. It'll remain active for awhile now until the stress is handled or it locks up again.

[Dustin]

Fracking's Latest Scandal? Earthquake Swarms | Mother Jones



Gee, that article isn't biased at all. /sarcasm.

Ya, Mother Jones isn't the best source, but I thought the article had some pretty good points.

[Of Sound Mind]

A timelapse of Oklahoma earthquakes | News OK

[PWitty]

Ya, Mother Jones isn't the best source, but I thought the article had some pretty good points.

I was going to say the same thing about the source before I read it, but I thought the author did a good job of presenting more facts than opinion. Could've done without a couple of the snarky comments though. I'm sure most of the industry reps thought the same thing when they saw the interview request, so I can't blame them all for denying it.

I think the obvious thing to do is map out all the faults and try and place injection wells in areas with a low chance of activating any dormant faults. I know that's easier said than done though.

An interesting point at the end of that was that maybe these small tremors are a good thing and they're preventing enough energy from building up and causing a major quake. I had never thought about that, but the reasoning sounds logical. I'm not trying to say that condones the current quakes, but that is an interesting point nonetheless.

[CaptDave]

Is it not possible the fracturing creates new faults? Or extends pre-existing faults? Then the disposal wells decrease the friction holding the two plates in place permitting more slippage. I'm not a geologist but this seems to make sense from a layman viewpoint.

I don't think we will ever get an honest assessment from any in state entity. It will take someone with enormous resources from out of state to perform an objective analysis - if you can find an objective party to do so.

[ljbab728]

Oklahoma Geological Survey is shaking things up amid rash of quakes | News OK

The geological survey recently installed additional seismographs throughout the state, including one near Guthrie. The equipment helped determine the most recent quakes have occurred along a different fault from previous quakes, including those near Jones and east of Edmond.

“This fault is one likely to have naturally occurring earthquakes on it,” Holland said.

There were no active hydraulic fracturing activities in the area, but the survey is studying whether water injection wells could have contributed to the most recent and other quakes throughout the state, Holland said.

“We’re still looking at that as a possibility, but we’re waiting for data,” he said. “Those determinations can take a very long time to complete.”

[venture]

This says it all...

“Those determinations can take a very long time to complete.”

We'll never get a real answer. At this point that might as well just say... "the plate is starting to buckle here, we are possibly seeing the early stages of a new mountain range develop" or " we could also be seeing magma start to move up in the area and change the make up of the ground under us."

Okay, so the last one might be a stretch.

[ljbab728]

This says it all...

“Those determinations can take a very long time to complete.”

We'll never get a real answer. At this point that might as well just say... "the plate is starting to buckle here, we are possibly seeing the early stages of a new mountain range develop" or " we could also be seeing magma start to move up in the area and change the make up of the ground under us."

Okay, so the last one might be a stretch.

This is obviously OKC's future.

[PWitty]

Is it not possible the fracturing creates new faults? Or extends pre-existing faults? Then the disposal wells decrease the friction holding the two plates in place permitting more slippage. I'm not a geologist but this seems to make sense from a layman viewpoint.

I don't think we will ever get an honest assessment from any in state entity. It will take someone with enormous resources from out of state to perform an objective analysis - if you can find an objective party to do so.

The fracturing process itself does create a fracture network, but it is very small and it nothing like the kind of fracture plane that would cause seismic activity. At least based on my knowledge. There have been a lot of tracer studies done trying to figure out the exact type of fracture network that is formed and how far out an individual fracture can go and so far there has been nothing negative found.

The type of fracture that would be needed to cause a seismic event would have to be a large fracture that cuts across multiple bedding planes. Fracture networks caused from hydraulic fracturing are almost always confined to a single rock layer. It takes a lot of energy to break from one layer into another, and by the time the fracture reaches the next rock bed it usually doesn't have the force left to do that. There are rare instances when it will catch a natural plane of weakness and extend into the layer above or below the target zone, but that small fracture is nothing like the type of fault that would cause seismic activity.

[kelroy55]

I was watching one of the cable news channels and it had a story on OK and all the earthquakes recently. They are also having them down here, surprisingly in the same areas fracking is going on. They also talked about how around the DFW airport they were having several small earthquakes and there was fracking happening on airport property and when they stopped it the quakes stopped as well.

[PWitty]

Like I made note of above, if it was the fracturing process itself that was causing seismic activity (creating and lubricating it's own faults) then you would expect to see an unprecedented amount of seismic activity in North Dakota, South and West Texas, and NE Pennsylvania. There's very little to no seismic activity in those areas, so the obvious suspect is disposal wells near major faults that are already present. I know I'm not going to change anyone's opinion, and I'm not trying to, but since I saw fracturing and injection wells come up I just thought I'd put out some information from my perspective that others may not know.

I'll leave it at that so I don't steer this off topic.

[silvergrove]

"the plate is starting to buckle here, we are possibly seeing the early stages of a new mountain range develop" or " we could also be seeing magma start to move up in the area and change the make up of the ground under us."

Still waiting on Mt. Boomer even if it's just a stretch!

[Dustin]

A timelapse of Oklahoma earthquakes | News OK

[CaptDave]

Thanks for the info PWitty. I think people often mix terminology between fracture wells and injection disposal wells. Until recently I didn't really understand the difference.

If the disposal wells can be proven to be the initiating factor, wonder what the alternative will be. I assume that disposal method was chosen because it is less expensive than other mitigation techniques. Could be a growth industry if someone were to take the plunge and develop a facility to clean and recycle those fluids.

And IF disposal wells are the reason we have had the sharp increase in seismic activity, it must be stopped regardless of the cost. O&G companies' rights end at the surface and they should be held liable for any effect their subsurface activities have on the surface. It is not ethical for the industry to do otherwise.

[SoonerDave]

Like I made note of above, if it was the fracturing process itself that was causing seismic activity (creating and lubricating it's own faults) then you would expect to see an unprecedented amount of seismic activity in North Dakota, South and West Texas, and NE Pennsylvania. There's very little to no seismic activity in those areas, so the obvious suspect is disposal wells near major faults that are already present. I know I'm not going to change anyone's opinion, and I'm not trying to, but since I saw fracturing and injection wells come up I just thought I'd put out some information from my perspective that others may not know.

I'll leave it at that so I don't steer this off topic.

Education is a great thing! Thanks for adding your knowledge here!!! I appreciate it.

[Jim Kyle]

Could be a growth industry if someone were to take the plunge and develop a facility to clean and recycle those fluids.

A couple of years ago, one of the energy sponsors of Thunder game broadcasts -- I think it was Devon -- featured a number of sand-painting commercials, and one of them described some process they had developed that apparently permitted re-use of injection fluid, although they never went into detail about it. Can anyone tell us if this is in any way related? If it is, they might be onto something that could make servicing even bigger than production or exploration for them...

[Of Sound Mind]

A timelapse of Oklahoma earthquakes | News OK

That looks familiar... just a few posts above (#102)...

[Bunty]

Brief earthquake was heard and felt in Stillwater at around 9:11 pm. I'm glad it only lasted a second. It might be stronger than the 2.9M I slept through this morning.

EDIT:
It registered 3.1, three miles ssw of Stillwater. The one this morning was 2.9.

[Bunty]

OUR VIEW: State needs quake task force » Opinion » Stillwater NewsPress

[Bunty]

YIKES!!! Another quake just hit Stillwater. It might be even stronger than the last one!

EDIT:
Nope, not stronger, a 3.0M. It might have been directly under Stillwater. http://folkworm.ceri.memphis.edu/rec...s/quakes0.html

[Jim Kyle]

It registered 3.1, three miles ssw of Stillwater. The one this morning was 2.9.

That means it was almost twice as strong; since it's a log scale, a difference of 0.3 would be twice as strong, and a difference of 1.0 would be 10 times stronger....

[Bunty]

Saturday's three quakes felt in Stillwater were centered in the countryside just outside town:

8:06am -2.9- Prairie Rd between Richmond and Lakeview
9:11pm -3.1- 44th between Western and Washington
10:45pm -3.0- 44th between Brush Creek and Fairgrounds

[Bunty]

OUR VIEW: State needs quake task force » Opinion » Stillwater NewsPress

Unlike in Kansas, it may not be regarded as politically feasible to create something like a quake task force in Oklahoma. Anyway, surely the Oklahoma Geological Survey has already been doing something in that regard. It recently added a seismologist. And what does it say: http://newsok.com/oklahoma-geologica...rticle/3934987

[Bunty]

Another earthquake happened at Stillwater at about 6:11pm. The Wichita Mtns. seismograph clearly picked it up. There's been around 5 others elsewhere for Sunday.

EDIT:
It was 3.1M, 10 miles southwest of Glencoe.

http://folkworm.ceri.memphis.edu/rec...s/quakes0.html

http://stillwaterweather.com/okareae...kes.php#Recent

[venture]

At some point it'll be realized this is the new normal and we won't be seeing headlines in the paper every day after a 3 pointer happens. They are just too common anymore to really be news worthy.

I've updated the table and it includes this latest quake this evening. Our daily averages continue to increase.