Earthquakes in the Permian Basin in West Texas were happening at shallower depths than previously thought, near fracking-related wastewater disposal.
An array of pumpjacks operate near the site of a new oil and gas well being drilled Friday, April 8, 2022 in Midland, Texas. Exxon Mobil Corp. is buying Pioneer Natural Resources in an all-stock deal valued at $59.5 billion, its largest buyout since acquiring Mobil two decades ago, creating a colossal fracking operator in West Texas. A recent study led by scientists at Southern Methodist University underscores this link by revealing how earthquakes in the past were connected to fracking.
Before 2017, there was a lot of uncertainty regarding an earthquake’s depth, especially in the Permian Basin, a region rich in domestic oil and natural gas. This was due in part to not enough seismic stations in proximity to where tremors occurred.“The rule of thumb is that to get a good earthquake , you want to have a seismic station within two times the depth of the earthquake,” DeShon said.
One mitigation effort has been to stop wastewater injections. For example, in 2021, the Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees the oil and gas industry,after earthquakes greater than magnitude three rocked the area. In 2023, after a series of earthquakes above a 5.
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