Science magazine yesterday published an important paper that documents that the rate of earthquakes greater than 3.0 jumped sharply since 2001. From 1967 to 2001, earthquakes of 3.0 or greater averaged 21 per year. But since 2001, such earthquakes rose sharply to 188 per year.
Why the sharp increase?
The authors state: "It has long been known that impoundment
of reservoirs, surface and underground
mining, withdrawal of fluids and gas from the subsurface, and injection
of fluids into
underground formations are capable of
There is definitive evidence that deep well injection of fluids, including gas drilling wastewater, can cause an earthquake. It did cause a 4.0 earthquake that was felt at the surface in Youngstown, Ohio.