Induced earthquakes are more difficult to predict since they
can happen even in area where there are no know fault lines.
(Photo : Dimas Ardian/Getty Images)
Earthquakes happen every day, but most of the time, they are too
deep to be felt by humans. However, experts are continuously mapping
fault lines and studying the movements of the earth to predict and
warn the public of possible disastrous earthquakes. The United
States Geological Survey (USGS) recently released a study stating
the most Earthquake-vulnerable states, which include Oklahoma,
Kansas, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico and Arkansas.
According to the
USGS Hazards Program, from 1973 to 2008, an average of 21
earthquakes (magnitude 3 and higher) happened in Central and Eastern
U.S., and that number increased in 2009. The USGS study states that
there is a 12 percent chance that these six U.S. states will experience
damage from both natural and human-induced earthquakes this year.
Earlier this year, Oklahoma started experiencing unexpected
earthquakes, prompting authorities to investigate. According to
KOCO 5, the Oklahoma Geological Survey at the University of Oklahoma
are working with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to identify the
cause of these sudden earthquakes.
In the same report, Director Jeremy Boak said that these earthquakes
might have been caused by new fault lines that are yet to be discovered.
"We've been working hard to delineate as many faults as we can in
Oklahoma," Boak said. "We've issued a map and we know there are gaps
because it's difficult to find the faults when they don't break all the
way to the surface."
The
USGS said that these earthquakes can be caused by both natural fault
lines and induced earthquakes, which both pose hazards to the safety of
the residents.
In 2015,
Justin Rubenstien, a research geophysicist of USGS, explained that
induced earthquakes are caused by industrial activities such as mining,
which uses high pressure to break up rocks and hydraulic fracturing used
by oil industries when extracting oil and gas.
These activities cause movements deep down in the Earth, leading to
earthquakes. This also explains what Oklahoma's unusual earthquakes even
without any known fault lines.
The natural fault lines alone poses threat to modern structures and
the population living near them, but these industrial activities worsen
the problem. They are giving birth to induced earthquakes which are
equally dangerous. They may even be pose more hazards because they tend
to happen in the most unexpected places.
The hazards are now even bigger with the combined forces of natural
and induced earth quakes. But the USGS assured the public that they are
doing what they can to alleviate the problem.
"We are using the best available data and principles to determine
when, where and how strong the ground could shake from induced
earthquakes," said Mark Petersen Chief of the USGS National Seismic
Hazard Mapping Project.