The U.S. Geological Survey usually excludes earthquakes caused by mining in its periodic hazard maps. But, on Monday, the federal agency published a new analysis of hotspots in the central and eastern parts of the country where mining is likely to cause enough ground-shaking to damage buildings sometime this year.
The energy fields of eastern Utah are included in this new, first-of-its-kind assessment of human-induced earthquakes.
And, while Utah isn’t identified as a hotspot, areas that are lie just over the border in Colorado, around Rangely and the Paradox Basin.
“These new USGS maps provide hazard information that policy makers can use to make more informed decisions on the effects of earthquakes and, hopefully, to provide for safer communities in the future,” said Mark Petersen, who leads the National Seismic Hazard Mapping Project.
As described in a conference call with reporters, the new maps show that temblors rivaling California’s natural earthquakes are increasing in the oil and gas fields of Oklahoma, Texas and four other states -- often where wastewater is injected into the ground.
Katherine Whidden, a research geologist at the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, says induced quakes have been happening in Utah’s coal country for decades.
“Many of the underground coal mines there induce seismicity by design,” she said. “They expect to have seismicity as part of the mine plan. They don’t cause a lot of damage.”
Whidden says Utah coal-mine quakes are usually around magnitude 1 or 2. The one caused by the 2007 Crandall Canyon collapse that killed six miners was a magnitude 3.9. Three rescuers were killed in a separate collapse a week later.
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