Gravitational tug of Moon could trigger quakes

Gravitational tug of Moon could trigger quakes

Submitted by Natalia Hall on Wed, 09/14/2016 - 13:20

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The moon has been rotating around our planet for four and a half billion years. The slight tug of the moon’s gravity helps keep Earth steady on its axis and leads to the generation of fluctuation in ocean tides. But, there are times when the slight pull changes into a bit too much.

A study, published in Nature Geoscience this week, suggested that the same gravitational influence the moon has on our oceans could also prompt earthquakes along the most fragile faults of Earth.

The University of Tokyo researchers measured the levels of ‘tidal stress’ prior to huge earthquakes of the last some decades and discovered that high stress levels were often followed by massive earthquakes.

The scientists wrote, “This suggests that the probability of a tiny rock failure expanding to a gigantic rupture increases with increasing tidal stress levels. We conclude that large earthquakes are more probable during periods of high tidal stress”.

The scientists mentioned that the December 2004 earthquake of 9.1 magnitude in Sumatra, Indonesia, which led to a tsunami killing 230,000 people, was probably precipitated by the moon’s influence. Same was the case with the 2011 temblor in Japan, which took at least 15,000 lives and led to a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear reactor.

The gravitational pull of the moon leads to Earth’s tides when it moves over the planet’s surface. When the satellite is directly over a specific spot, it attracts the water there in the direction of itself, making the ocean on that side of Earth (and the opposite side) to bulge.

The effect is highly evident when the Earth, sun and the moon are aligned, as the sun is able to contribute its bulk to strengthen the gravity of the moon. This is the reason people often link full moons and new moons with the most drastic high tides.

http://norcal.news/news/22974-gravit...trigger-quakes

Was Oklahoma's recent record breaking earthquake caused by fracking?

Thursday, September 08, 2016 by: Amy Goodrich

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(NaturalNews) The 5.6-magnitude earthquake that shook Oklahoma earlier this month has spurred state officials to shut down 37 fracking disposal wells over a 725-square mile area. The quake matched a 2011 record for the strongest earthquake in the state's history.

Five months before the quake, the United States Geological Society (USGS) reported that about 7 million people who live and work in specific areas of the central and eastern U.S. now face the same earthquake risks as people living in high-hazard areas of California.

Furthermore, the report found that oil and gas drilling activities – such as fracking (hydraulic fracturing) – may be the primary cause of the dramatic increase in man-made earthquakes in parts of the U.S., with Oklahoma and Kansas at particular risk.

"This research also shows that much more of the nation faces a significant chance of having damaging earthquakes over the next year, whether natural or human-induced," USGS official Mark Petersen said.

Are you prepared for this kind of risk?

Man-made earthquakes on the riseOklahoma has seen a dramatic increase in earthquakes that started at the same time as heavy fracking activities began to take place in the state. As reported by RT, the state recorded 907 earthquakes in 2015, and this year there have already been 400 that had a magnitude of 3.0 or higher. In contrast, in 2009 just three quakes were reported with a magnitude of 3.0 or above.

Currently, the USGS cannot conclude whether or not the record-breaking earthquake that struck Oklahoma earlier this month was caused by industrial-related, human activities. However, they noted that wastewater fluid injection has triggered many earthquakes in Oklahoma over the recent years.

Matt Skinner from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission said that all their actions have been based on the association that researchers made between the Arbuckle disposal well operations and earthquakes in Oklahoma. He has been trying to reduce disposal volumes for the last three years, without much support from state officials who have been in a state of denial about the severity of the cause, according to EcoWatch.
American oil and gas industry is booming

As stated by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, last year the U.S. counted over 300,000 fracking wells, compared to just 23,000 in 2000.

Hydraulic fracking involves the high-pressure injection of water, sand and chemicals into a wellbore to create cracks in the deep-rock formations. Through these cracks, natural gas and oil can be collected. The toxic wastewater is then disposed into underground wells which increase the risk of earthquakes.

While the evidence is clear, the Oklahoma Oil and Gas Association (OKOGA) continues to deny that there is solid scientific proof that the increased number of quakes can be connected to wastewater injection.

"There may be a link between earthquakes and disposal wells," OKOGA president Chad Warmington told EcoWatch. "But we–industry, regulators, researchers, lawmakers or state residents–still don't know enough about how wastewater injection impacts Oklahoma's underground faults. We don't know enough about what's really going on in the subsurface to know how to mitigate some of this risk."

Oklahoma's oil and gas billionaire, Harold Hamm, also referred to as the father of the U.S. fracking boom, even went so far as to advise state seismologist Austin Holland to be careful when publicly addressing the plausible connection between oil and gas operations and the significant jump in the number of earthquakes.

http://www.naturalnews.com/055229_fr..._Oklahoma.html