Advertisment

Satellites may help predict the next human-caused earthquake

author-image
CIOL Writers
New Update
CIOL Satellites may help predict the next human-caused earthquake

Researchers have found a new tool to predict earthquakes including the human-induced seismic activity. A team of geophysicists set out to build a model to predict seismic activity induced by the effects of pumping wastewater from oil and gas operations deep underground analyzed more than three years of radar data from the Japanese Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) and found they could see the land deform above wastewater disposal wells near Timpson, Texas.

Advertisment

Just a couple of years later, in 2012, a magnitude 4.8 earthquake shook the area. The team found that wastewater injected in two Texas wells raised the land between them by as much as 3 millimeters every year.

They then put this data into their model of pore pressure i.e. how tightly water is squeezed into the cracks in subsurface rocks. Increased pore pressure means a greater strain on underground faults which can potentially cause them to slip, creating an earthquake.

The scientists believe this is the first study they are aware of that can directly measure the ground uplift from wastewater injection and hope that the data will also allow the team to answer questions like why some injection wells may generate earthquakes and others don’t. For example, the subsequent earthquakes happened 25 kilometers away from the original site, actually above different wells that were deeper but had less surface uplift.

In reality, many underground features can influence earthquakes whereas this study relies on factors such as the stiffness of the rocks, along with wastewater injection depth and volume to calculate the pore pressure in a region. But the takeaway from the research is that geophysicists have at least a starting step on way to a fully predictive model

This report was recently released in the Journal Science