Small earthquakes are a recognized risk of hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’, a procedure in which companies unlock energy reserves by pumping millions of litres of water underground to fracture shale rock and release the natural gas trapped inside. Researchers now say that they can calculate the highest magnitude earthquake that such an operation could induce — though it won’t determine the likelihood of a quake occurring. From Nature…

1. bonham690 liked this
2. gomode832 liked this
3. nakedsciencebutt reblogged this from knowjoe and added:

   There’s still a lot of debate about this, though. Not all fracking causes earthquakes. (fraking can make your bed shake,...

4. knowjoe reblogged this from highcountrynews
5. mslilyb liked this
6. audforadi reblogged this from highcountrynews
7. highcountrynews posted this