Approximately 3.5 million people live and work in areas of the central U. S. with significant potential for damaging shaking from induced seismicity in 2017. an additional half million
people face a chance of damage from natural earthquakes in 2017. Although there was a
decrease in the overall number of earthquakes in 2016, Oklahoma experienced the largest
earthquake ever recorded in the state as well as the greatest number of large earthquakes
compared to any prior year. Furthermore, the chance of damage from induced earthquakes
will continue to fluctuate depending on policy and industry decisions. The forecast for
induced and natural earthquakes in 2017 is hundreds of times higher than before induced
seismic rates rapidly increased around 2008
The increase in induced earthquakes in the central U. S. coincided with the introduction of the
practice of injecting wastewater to increase oil and gas production a practice known as fracking. If
fracking is linked to the increase in induced earthquakes, what outcome would you predict if oil
and gas production decreased?
A) The number of induced and natural earthquakes would decrease.
B) The number of induced and natural earthquakes would not change.
The number of induced earthquakes would increase, but natural earthquakes would not
change
The total number of earthquakes would decrease, but the number of natural earthquakes
D
would not change