Drilldo - 11/6/2016 22:22 Old Pokey - 11/6/2016 22:21 Drilldo - 11/6/2016 18:24 I am a geophysicist and I don't fully buy their explanation. Earthquakes are caused when plates of the earth which are moving relative to one another have built up tension finally build up too much tension and slip. The slipping and moving is what causes the quake. Fracking or injection wells can't cause things to move like that unless they were already moving or under tension to begin with. Sure the fluids could facilitate the movement but couldn't cause something to move that wasn't trying to move already. In a way if the fracking/injection wells are causing them it might be a good thing because it is relieving stress that might otherwise build up to the point of being a huge quake. The other thing I find odd is most earthquakes originate pretty deep in the earth. Much deeper than most oil wells. How can fracking or an injection well 5,000' deep cause a quake that originates 5 miles deep? Why are the plates moving? The plates are moving due to plate tectonics. The outer surface of the earth sits on a molten mantle which is churning and the surface of the earth is basically floating on it. The movement is very real and measurable. In highly active areas scientists measure plates moving 2-3 inches per year. In order for this movement to occur something has to give. What happens is the plates are being pressured to move by the underlying mantle but there is resistance due to them being connected at the surface and finally the pressure to move overcomes the resistance and they move. They can move in many ways either side by side or over and under which is what forms mountains. So the crust is a very thin layer that sits on a molten sea of very hot, liquefied material. What is the temperature of the stuff they remove from the wells at 5,000' vs. the temperature of the stuff they put back in and how thick is the crust in the areas of these controversial wells? Google says the earth's crust can be as thin as 3 miles and as thick as 46 miles. | 
Earthquake
