Are large earthquakes increasing in frequency? + a growing COLLECTION of quake & volcano links

[Quix]

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http://earthsky.org/earth/are-large-earthquakes-increasing-in-frequency

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  By Deanna Conners in Earth | March 4, 2012  .

Earthquakes 8.0 magnitude and above have struck at a record rate since 2004.   But the increased rate was not statistically different from what you’d expect from random chance.
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Large earthquakes greater than 8.0 in magnitude have struck the Earth at a record high rate since 2004 but scientists have analyzed the historical record and found that the increase in seismic activity was likely due to mere chance. Peter Shearer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Philip Stark at the University of California, Berkeley examined the global frequency of large magnitude earthquakes from 1900 to 2011. They discovered that while the frequency of magnitude 8.0 and higher earthquakes has been slightly elevated since 2004 – at a rate of about 1.2 to 1.4 earthquakes per year – the increased rate was not statistically different from what one might expect to see from random chance. The results of the study were published on January 17, 2012 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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. . .
To determine the typical “background” seismic activity of the Earth over the past century, the scientists had to exclude earthquakes that could be classified as aftershocks from their analyses. They did so by eliminating from their data set those earthquakes that occurred within three years and 1,000 kilometers of the epicenter of the magnitude 8.0 and higher earthquakes under examination. When the scientists compared the resulting data set to three different mathematical models, they found no evidence that elevations in seismic activity since 2004 were statistically significant.
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. . .
Bottom line: Scientists analyzed the historical record of earthquakes greater than 8.0 in magnitude and concluded that the global frequency of large earthquakes is no higher today than it has been in the past. Results of the study were published on January 17, 2012 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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. . .

[Quix]

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http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-la-quakes-20140603-story.html
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4 JAN 2017 & 2 JUN 2014
Quakes are increasing, but scientists aren't sure what it means .
BY Rong-Gong Lin Contact Reporter 

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No, it's not your imagination: The Los Angeles area is feeling more earthquakes this year.
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After a relatively quiet period of seismic activity in the Los Angeles area, the last five months have been marked by five earthquakes larger than 4.0. That hasn't occurred since 1994, the year of the destructive Northridge earthquake that produced 53 such temblors.
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Over the next two decades, there were some years that passed without a single quake 4.0 or greater.
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Earthquake experts said 2014 is clearly a year of increased seismic activity, but they said it's hard to know whether the recent string of quakes suggests that a larger one is on the way.
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After the March 17 quake, the leading theory from seismologists was that it could have been an aftershock of the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which killed 57 people. But on Monday, Hauksson said it's possible both quakes could be part of a new seismic sequence.
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. . .

Sooooooooooo . . . the opinions are plentiful.

[Quix]

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Are Earthquakes and Volcano Activity on the Rise? 27 APR 2015
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The Costa Rica News (TCRN) – If it seems like earthquakes and erupting volcanoes are happening more frequently, that’s because they are. Looking at global magnitude six (M6) or greater from 1980 to 1989 there was an average of 108.5 earthquakes per year, from 2000 to 2009 the planet averaged 160.9 earthquakes per year: that is a 38.9% increase of M6+ earthquakes in recent years.
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. . .
The cumulative number of earthquakes M3 or greater in the midcontinental United States. The number of M3 or greater earthquakes increases steadily at about 21 events per year until around 2000, when it increases about 50% to 31 events per year. By 2008, the number increased sharply to about 151 events per year.
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. . .
Unrest also seems to be growing among the world’s super-volcanoes. Iceland (which is home to some of the most dangerous volcanoes on the planet), Santorini in Greece, Uturuncu in Bolivia, the Yellowstone and Long Valley calderas in the U.S., Laguna del Maule in Chile, Italy’s Campi Flegrei – almost all of the world’s active super-volcanic systems are now exhibiting some signs of inflation, an early indication that pressure is building in these volcanic systems.
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. . .

The most recent study by the USGS finds there were more than twice as many big earthquakes in the first quarter of 2014 as compared with the average since 1979.
 “We have recently experienced a period that has had one of the highest rates of great earthquakes ever recorded,” said lead study author Tom Parsons, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in California.
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It seems that earthquakes and volcanic activity is on the rise and according to many scientific experts we can expect more in the near future.
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. . .

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This article seems truer to the facts, somehow.

[Quix]

This is a link to a DUTCHSINSE youtube re quakes . . . I've usually taken him with a grain of salt, on the whole.
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This one he seems to make more sense with more verified predicted hits than I've seen with him before.
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It's a bit long but also, imho, a bit interesting.
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I do think he's scoping out some variables, sequences, trends, influences that the authentic geologist experts seem to be missing. 
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The Chinese have a saying: THE ONLOOKER SEES THE GAME BEST.
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I think professionals in various fields tend to have tunnel vision and have great difficulty seeing evidence outside their preconceptions.
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On that score, DutchSinse may be picking up on things the more trained and ingrained experts are missing.
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Time will tell. But this video seems to have a number of factoids affirming his predictions.
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https://nexusnewsfeed.com/article/self-sufficiency/dutchsinse-nightly-earthquake-update-jan-10
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youtube.com/dutchsinsereloaded/live
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HIS FAQ:
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dutchsinse.com/dutchsinse-faq/
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youtube.com/dutchsinse
facebook.com/dutchsinseoff...
dutchsinse.com
twitter.com/dutchsinse
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[Quix]

USGS LATEST QUAKE WORLD MAP
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This is one of the windows I tend to keep open . . .
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http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/#%7B%22autoUpdate%22%3A%5B%22autoUpdate%22%5D%2C%22basemap%22%3A%22street%22%2C%22feed%22%3A%2230day_m25%22%2C%22listFormat%22%3A%22default%22%2C%22mapposition%22%3A%5B%5B-68.65655498475735%2C-372.65625%5D%2C%5B72.0739114882038%2C48.8671875%5D%5D%2C%22overlays%22%3A%5B%22plates%22%5D%2C%22restrictListToMap%22%3A%5B%22restrictListToMap%22%5D%2C%22search%22%3A%7B%22id%22%3A%221483486480029%22%2C%22name%22%3A%22Search%20Results%22%2C%22isSearch%22%3Atrue%2C%22params%22%3A%7B%22starttime%22%3A%222016-12-27%2000%3A00%3A00%22%2C%22endtime%22%3A%222017-01-03%2023%3A59%3A59%22%2C%22minmagnitude%22%3A2.5%2C%22orderby%22%3A%22time%22%2C%22limit%22%3A1700%7D%7D%2C%22sort%22%3A%22newest%22%2C%22timezone%22%3A%22local%22%2C%22viewModes%22%3A%5B%22map%22%5D%2C%22event%22%3Anull%7D
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The scroll wheel will enlarge or shrink the zoom feature.
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I don't really trust USGS to be accurate on magnitude nor to show all the quakes. They've been noted to minimize magnitude compared to other world sources. And, they've left significant quakes out of some regions compared to other world sources.
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Still, I think it's a good map to spot clusters, swarms and trends in terms of quakes.
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I noticed a long time ago a kind of line from mid California up through Nevada to Yellowstone. I don't think there's any plate boundary there. It seems to more likely be volcanic related. I haven't seen more than one other mention of anyone noticing that. But it can sometimes be seen on this map--and it's a bit noticeable now.
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[Quix]

Speaking of volcanoes . . . there's an incredible pic at the top of this ATS thread of lightening over a volcano:
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http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread1155697/pg1

[Quix]

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NBC NEWS SCIENCE
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http://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/worldwide-surge-great-earthquakes-seen-past-10-years-n233661
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25 Oct 2014
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Worldwide Surge in 'Great' Earthquakes Seen in Past 10 Years
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By Linda Carroll
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The annual number of “great” earthquakes nearly tripled over the last decade, providing a reminder to Americans that unruptured faults like those in the northwest United States might be due for a Big One.

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 Between 2004 and 2014, 18 earthquakes with magnitudes of 8.0 or more rattled subduction zones around the globe. That's an increase of 265 percent over the average rate of the previous century, which saw 71 great quakes, according to a report to the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America this week in Vancouver, British Columbia.

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. . .

“The last 10 years have been interesting for seismologists because we have learned that great subduction zone earthquakes occur in many different ways and there do not seem to be any simple rules to predict the kind of behavior to expect,” says Peter Shearer, a professor of geophysics at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. “Thus we can’t reliably assess at this point whether the Cascadia subduction zone will eventually break mostly in a single giant earthquake or a series of large earthquakes.”
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. . .
“The size of earthquakes is related to the surface area of the fault that slips,” Shearer said. “The San Andreas Fault and other transform, or strike-slip, faults are very long but not very wide as they cut vertically through the earth’s brittle upper crust. In contrast, subduction zone faults are both long and wide as they cut at a very shallow angle through the crust. Thus the surface area for the fault slip can be much larger for subduction zone earthquakes than for transform faults and the corresponding magnitudes for subduction zone earthquakes can be much greater. The largest transform fault earthquakes are about magnitude 8.5, whereas subduction zone [earthquakes] can be as large as magnitude 9.5.”
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Hmmmmmmm
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Not exactly comforting thoughts for those in the Pacific North West.
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[Quix]

DIGITAL JOURNAL:
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http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/322997
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Op-Ed: Are Earthquakes Increasing Globally?

By Eliot Elwar 15 AP 2012 in WORLD
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Earthquakes are becoming more numerous and powerful and the Ring of Fire has been growling back to life again; therefore, there could be Earthquakes of apocalyptic significance on the West Coast of North America  and elsewhere.
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. . .
Analysis of seismic charts show that the number of major earthquakes has been growing gradually over the past 10 years and that the numerous major earthquakes that we are expected to have in 2012 could surpass all previous years. According to the USGS’s research, the number of magnitude 5.0 to 9.9 earthquakes reached 2,117 in 2010. In 2000, by contrast, the number of such quakes recorded by USGS was 1,505.
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. . .

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Hmmmmmmmm . . . so . . . 5.0 to 9.9 quakes have doubled in the last 10 or so years.
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Seems to me like a lot of geologists are doing back flips to rationalize that the increase is coincidental, random, not significant, not unusual etc. etc. etc. yada yada yada. And, to be fair, they could be right about the statistical probabilities. They just come across to me as groping for every statistical excuse to make such claims.
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They are seemingly loathe to let anyone think that the Biblical END TIMES predictions of quakes increasing could be the least bit true.
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Time will tell.
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imho, IF the increases are due to the END TIMES we are in, I would expect the increases in frequency, number and magnitude to very significantly continue to increase--perhaps dramatically and suddenly.
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Here's a chart of quakes by year:
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http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/other/quake1.html
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With a couple of graphs of related data.


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[Quix]

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http://www.cogwriter.com/earthquakes-today.php
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Earthquakes Today and Bible Prophecy: Has there been an increase in major earthquakes?.
. . . emphases added occasionally. Some emphases were in the original . . .

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. . .

There seemed to have been an increase in earthquakes around 1900 as well as 1940, and lately. This means that though there are averages, some periods of time end up with more as the USGS indicates that earthquakes often come in "clusters" (Cherundolo G. Are Earthquakes Really Increasing? March 9, 2010. http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/story/25904/has-the-number-of-earthquakes.asp).
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Here is a report about the massive increases in parts of the USA:
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Within   the central and eastern United States, the number of earthquakes has   increased dramatically over the past few years. Between the years   1973–2008, there was an average of 21 earthquakes of magnitude three and   larger in the central and eastern United States. This rate jumped to an   average of 99 M3+ earthquakes per year in 2009–2013, and the rate   continues to rise. In 2014, alone, there were 659 M3 and larger   earthquakes. (Posted April 20, 2015

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/induced/)
 

continuing quoting from the basic article:
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So,   the USA used to average 21 earthquakes of a magnitude of 3.0 or larger   in its central region, but there were 659 in 2014.  This is a massive   increase.
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. . .

From April 2010 to March 2011, I counted that there were 16 major  and 1 great earthquakes.
From April 2011 to March 2012, I counted that there were  14 major  and 0 great earthquakes.
From April 2012 to March 2013, I counted that there were  13 major  and 3 great earthquakes.
From April 2013 to March 2014, I counted that there were  13 major  and 1 great earthquakes.
From April 2014 to March 2015, I counted that there were  14 major  and 1 great earthquakes.
From April 2015 to March 2016, I counted that there were  17 major  and 1 great earthquakes.
In the past nine years or so, there were about 15 USGS defined great earthquakes. This exceeds the 'norm.'
Roger Meyers reported the following about the power and frequency of earthquakes on March 29, 2011:
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. . .

The rate of earthquakes has accelerated greatly in certain areas since 2009:
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A new United States Geological Survey study has found that middle America between Alabama and Montana is experiencing an "unprecedented" and "almost certainly manmade" increase in earthquakes of 3.0 magnitude or greater. In 2011, there were 134 events of that size. That's six times more than were normally seen during the 20th century. While the changes in the area's seismicity began in 2001,
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the trend has really accelerated since 2009, the geologists note. (Madrigal A. Middle America Is Experiencing a Massive Increase in 3.0+ Earthquakes. The Atlantic, April 6, 2012. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/04/middle-america-is-experiencing-a-massive-increase-in-30-earthquakes/255568/
 

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I think it's a quality article with lots of data and reasonably good discussion of the author's perspective.
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Included are various Biblical verses on quakes and their possible meanings.
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I think it's worth the time of those seriously interested in the topic.

[bigheadfred]

Quakes and volcanoes. I'll read up tomorrow. Work has me burned out. And burned up.

[bigheadfred]

Part of the Nibiru thing. An approaching body causing gravitational perturbations throughout the solar system. Oort cloud in flux.

Those caves and underground areas for the elite. The secret hidden knowledge is about past cataclysmic events and the way to keep civilization going after one. People in the cities don't stand a chance, the reason the elites don't want flyover people around is some of them may survive a cataclysm and the elites don't want the competition in a post-emergent society.

Also if Yellowstone blows I am close enough to epicenter to head straight for it. Yay for me.

[Quix]

Part of the Nibiru thing. An approaching body causing gravitational perturbations throughout the solar system. Oort cloud in flux.

Those caves and underground areas for the elite. The secret hidden knowledge is about past cataclysmic events and the way to keep civilization going after one. People in the cities don't stand a chance, the reason the elites don't want flyover people around is some of them may survive a cataclysm and the elites don't want the competition in a post-emergent society.

Also if Yellowstone blows I am close enough to epicenter to head straight for it. Yay for me.

THANKS.

Worthy points, imho.

Though I did come across an interesting bunch of info . . . perhaps by Chuck Missler. I forget.

The assertions were basically along the following lines . . .

That gravitational forces beyond our planet & moon were relatively VERY SMALL influences.

PARTICULARLY

compared to 'electric universe' forces.

Sounded convincing to me.

Seems to me . . . Nibiru could be dinking with both.

I still think God is going to crush a ton of the elites in their deep bunkers.

Tidy. Won't have to rebury them.

[bigheadfred]

What people should think about when they are talking about celestial events or "electric universe" topics is that God is the One that "set things in motion". So you really should stick with Plan A. Get themselves right. So no matter what comes down or what goes up they needn't worry here or there.

[Quix]

What people should think about when they are talking about celestial events or "electric universe" topics is that God is the One that "set things in motion". So you really should stick with Plan A. Get themselves right. So no matter what comes down or what goes up they needn't worry here or there.

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ABSOLUTELY INDEED!
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Which is a major reason I bother with this stuff at all . . . to wake folks up enough to take/make the absolutely necessary spiritual actions, choices eternal life requires of them.
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[Victoria33]

@Quix

It is confusing to me when you post an earthquake report of 2012, then 2017, then 2014, then 2015, then 2014, then 2012, then 2016, then 2015.  I don't know what is actually happening with earthquakes with all these mixed up reports.

I thought one of them said "man made" quakes, but I can't find it again to quote it.  If one did say that, there are no man made quakes.  This comes from people who say "fracking" for oil causes earthquakes.  I know an engineer who is a freaking liberal (an extended family friend) and he was employed by one of the largest oil companies doing fracking.  He was the one who sat at these wells and he knows exactly how those are drilled.  Believe me, this liberal would not be working doing this if it damaged the earth in any way.  He stayed at my house sometimes when the wells were not a large distance from me.  We had long conversations about these wells and he explained it in detail.  They know the strata of the earth before they drill these deep wells and they don't cause earthquakes or pollute any water wells as uninformed people think.  I repeat, this liberal to the left of Stalin, engineer, would never do anything to pollute the earth or water and absolutely never if an earthquake was remotely possible.

Earthquakes as we have never seen before are going to happen during the end times - the Bible is specific on this, straight from
Christ's mouth.  I just finished a document of Christ's own words regarding the end times.  I'll send that to you.
Victoria33

[Quix]

@Quix

It is confusing to me when you post an earthquake report of 2012, then 2017, then 2014, then 2015, then 2014, then 2012, then 2016, then 2015.  I don't know what is actually happening with earthquakes with all these mixed up reports.

I thought one of them said "man made" quakes, but I can't find it again to quote it.  If one did say that, there are no man made quakes.  This comes from people who say "fracking" for oil causes earthquakes.  I know an engineer who is a freaking liberal (an extended family friend) and he was employed by one of the largest oil companies doing fracking.  He was the one who sat at these wells and he knows exactly how those are drilled.  Believe me, this liberal would not be working doing this if it damaged the earth in any way.  He stayed at my house sometimes when the wells were not a large distance from me.  We had long conversations about these wells and he explained it in detail.  They know the strata of the earth before they drill these deep wells and they don't cause earthquakes or pollute any water wells as uninformed people think.  I repeat, this liberal to the left of Stalin, engineer, would never do anything to pollute the earth or water and absolutely never if an earthquake was remotely possible.

Earthquakes as we have never seen before are going to happen during the end times - the Bible is specific on this, straight from
Christ's mouth.  I just finished a document of Christ's own words regarding the end times.  I'll send that to you.
Victoria33

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Sorry about the jumping around year-wise.
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I just was going down the list of links and chose the better ones without regard for year. LOL.
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Sometimes, I guess I'm not OCD enough! LOL.
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I'm certainly far less an expert on fracking. Evidently, though, the government has determined or decided or claimed . . . that some fracking--in Oklahoma--causes some minor quakes. What do I know.
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There is a whole controversy, evidently, over whether the natural presence of water can facilitate quakes--say from a long wet period etc. Sounds logical to me but I'm an ignorant layman.
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Thanks for your kind reply.
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I think the year sequence was not so critical, to me, because some of the links I offered included all the years.
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[Victoria33]

@Quix

I recall Bob, the earth scientist, has said large underground caverns no one knows about, can collapse over time, and cause huge sinks where highways collapse or whatever is on top of the earth.  These are not earth quakes.

[Smokin Joe]

Many of the mid-continent 3.0 and up earthquakes have been associated with disposal wells (disposal, not fraccing*), and there is a cluster of those in the Oklahoma/Kansas border area which may be the result of injection (disposal) of produced water from oil wells. Generally these are less than 4.0 in magnitude.
Not all earthquakes are created equal. The focus of the earthquake matters. If you look at coastal (continental plate) margins, you will find that as you get landward of ocean trenches (formed by the oceanic plate sliding under the adjacent plate) the focus of the earthquake (origin of the shock) gets deeper. This is a normal profile for a subduction zone (known as a Benioff Zone http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/glossary/?term=Benioff%20zone )

The epicenter is the point on the earth's surface above the earthquake focus.
 
There are swarms of low magnitude (below 5.0) earthquakes around Yellowstone which are related to the magma chamber and caldera there, and these will skew the data as well. The other factor is a question of what is considered to be "Mid continent', which if tossed around like "Midwest" can be skewed about to produce data to support most claims.

The other factor is magnitude. What sort of results do you get if your lower cutoff is 5.0?
(both in terms of numbers and distribution). I haven't looked, but my guess would be that the vast majority of quakes are on continental margins and plate boundaries.


*On the difference between disposal and fraccing:

Disposal wells are intended to be a permanent repository for waste fluids. Commonly, in the oil industry, this is salt water produced with oil from oil wells. The salt water is injected into formations which have sufficient porosity and permeability to accept the fluid, and the intent is that the fluid stays there. This means that over time, the pressure of the fluid in the pore spaces in the rock layer increases, and this may lubricate existing faults and allow slippage.

In contrast, fraccing is the injection of high pressure fluids into a wellbore for the purpose of fracturing low permeability rock, and carrying a proppant (usually sand or ceramic beads) into those fractures to hold them open, to enhance the recovery of oil from an oil bearing formation. While that causes a brief pressure increase in the rock layer around the wellbore, the fluid is not intended to stay there, but will be produced from the wellbore along with oil and/or gas. Over time, the pressure of the fluid in the pore space drops as the reservoir is depleted by the production of oil and gas (and associated water and frac fluid). The lateral extent of pressure increase is smaller than the lateral extent of the pressure increase in formation accepting disposal fluids, and it is temporary, where in an injection well, the pressure increase remains until such time as the fluid dissipates through the pore space in the rock layer.

Sadly, in the Liberal Media's attempts to toady up to the Obama Administration, the EPA, and the war on non-"green" energy, they have conflated the concepts of fraccing, drilling, disposal wells, and much else. Hope that clears that up for you.

[Quix]

Many of the mid-continent 3.0 and up earthquakes have been associated with disposal wells (disposal, not fraccing*), and there is a cluster of those in the Oklahoma/Kansas border area which may be the result of injection (disposal) of produced water from oil wells. Generally these are less than 4.0 in magnitude.
Not all earthquakes are created equal. The focus of the earthquake matters. If you look at coastal (continental plate) margins, you will find that as you get landward of ocean trenches (formed by the oceanic plate sliding under the adjacent plate) the focus of the earthquake (origin of the shock) gets deeper. This is a normal profile for a subduction zone (known as a Benioff Zone http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/glossary/?term=Benioff%20zone )

The epicenter is the point on the earth's surface above the earthquake focus.
 
There are swarms of low magnitude (below 5.0) earthquakes around Yellowstone which are related to the magma chamber and caldera there, and these will skew the data as well. The other factor is a question of what is considered to be "Mid continent', which if tossed around like "Midwest" can be skewed about to produce data to support most claims.

The other factor is magnitude. What sort of results do you get if your lower cutoff is 5.0?
(both in terms of numbers and distribution). I haven't looked, but my guess would be that the vast majority of quakes are on continental margins and plate boundaries.


*On the difference between disposal and fraccing:

Disposal wells are intended to be a permanent repository for waste fluids. Commonly, in the oil industry, this is salt water produced with oil from oil wells. The salt water is injected into formations which have sufficient porosity and permeability to accept the fluid, and the intent is that the fluid stays there. This means that over time, the pressure of the fluid in the pore spaces in the rock layer increases, and this may lubricate existing faults and allow slippage.

In contrast, fraccing is the injection of high pressure fluids into a wellbore for the purpose of fracturing low permeability rock, and carrying a proppant (usually sand or ceramic beads) into those fractures to hold them open, to enhance the recovery of oil from an oil bearing formation. While that causes a brief pressure increase in the rock layer around the wellbore, the fluid is not intended to stay there, but will be produced from the wellbore along with oil and/or gas. Over time, the pressure of the fluid in the pore space drops as the reservoir is depleted by the production of oil and gas (and associated water and frac fluid). The lateral extent of pressure increase is smaller than the lateral extent of the pressure increase in formation accepting disposal fluids, and it is temporary, where in an injection well, the pressure increase remains until such time as the fluid dissipates through the pore space in the rock layer.

Sadly, in the Liberal Media's attempts to toady up to the Obama Administration, the EPA, and the war on non-"green" energy, they have conflated the concepts of fraccing, drilling, disposal wells, and much else. Hope that clears that up for you.

THANKS. Much appreciate the added info.

I figured it was a more complex picture than I understood very well.

[Quix]

@Quix

I recall Bob, the earth scientist, has said large underground caverns no one knows about, can collapse over time, and cause huge sinks where highways collapse or whatever is on top of the earth.  These are not earth quakes.

Thanks.

The large sinkholes "out of the blue" are certainly a bit mysterious and alarming--particularly when appearing in folks' back yards or worse.

[bigheadfred]

@Smokin Joe

So now I have questions. What is the purpose of injection a saline solution into the wells? Reduction of bacterial growth and a higher specific gravity to prevent inclusion of particulates, that would plug the injection site? And is it sodium chloride, some other salt--barium, calcium, etc. or a combination depending on the composition of the ground at the site? It seems like some bacteria crap sulfides and does that play in?

[Victoria33]

Thanks.

The large sinkholes "out of the blue" are certainly a bit mysterious and alarming--particularly when appearing in folks' back yards or worse.

@Quix

Remember the chaos theory proved by a mathematician years ago. Earth follows this chaos theory:  earth is in movement all the time, bit by bit, until a final flutter of the butterfly's wings happens, then there is chaos and earthquakes, volcano eruption, etc.. 

[Smokin Joe]

@Smokin Joe

So now I have questions. What is the purpose of injection a saline solution into the wells? Reduction of bacterial growth and a higher specific gravity to prevent inclusion of particulates, that would plug the injection site? And is it sodium chloride, some other salt--barium, calcium, etc. or a combination depending on the composition of the ground at the site? It seems like some bacteria crap sulfides and does that play in?

In the production end of the oil industry, the purpose is disposal of water that is too saline to release into the surface environment. The salt water is water that was produced with the oil, not some additive, and these wells are used to dispose of that water. Basically, the water is a remnant of the same marine environment the rock formed in. When oil is produced, some salt water is produced with it, that water native to the rock formation the oil came out of.
 The salts present may be more concentrated than they are in seawater, but for the most part are Sodium chloride (halite), potassium chloride, and possibly some magnesium salts. This is naturally occurring, and not an industrial byproduct aside from being produced in conjunction with oil and gas. Hydrogen sulfide may also be present, the result of anaerobic activity in the same rock formation the oil was produced from, and in that case, usually the crude oil has H₂S in it as well, dissolved in the oil (referred to as "sour crude") and produced water. "Sweet" crude oil has no or extremely low Hydrogen Sulfide content (below 1PPM, the threshold for smelling Hydrogen Sulfide, which gives off an odor like rotten eggs).

Salt brines containing calcium chloride and calcium bromide are used in the industry as heavy brines to contain wellbore pressure when removing the drill string to change out downhole tools ("tripping out")  and running those tools in ("tripping in), but are expensive, specially formulated brines and are recovered as much as possible to be reused for the same purpose on subsequent trips. These are used when the hydrostatic pressure exerted by saturated sodium chloride (regular table salt) solutions is not enough to keep the well from flowing--a situation which could lead to a blowout. The calcium chloride and calcium bromide brines weigh more per gallon when the solution is saturated than the sodium chloride brines, so they exert greater hydrostatic pressure for any given height of fluid column. Eventually, these may become contaminated to the degree they are disposed of along with production water.

Disposal wells are often oil wells that did not produce, but which had a suitable stratum to dispose of fluid in, although some are drilled for that purpose from the start. As a result, the well is constructed similar to an oil well, with surface casing to protect groundwater, and another casing string in the wellbore, like production casing in a producing well, down past the rock layer the fluid will be injected into. That casing is perforated, much the same as an oil well would be, to allow communication between the wellbore and the rock layer the fluids will be injected into. Casing strings are cemented in place, and the bond between the casing and the rock (cement quality) checked with a casing bond logging tool, which indicates any bad spots in that cement, should they exist. Those can be fixed by 'squeezing' (perforating the casing at the bad cement, setting packers above and below the perforations, and pumping cement into any voids behind the casing). Then the cement left in the wellbore is drilled out, along with the packers, and the wellbore is open for business.

A primer on disposal wells and seismic activity is available from the USGS at this link http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/induced/myths.php and more detail here: http://media.wix.com/ugd/d3e01e_7a12408392f240c89943d3f500039004.pdf.

North Dakota has a good basic Q&A about disposal wells: https://www.dmr.nd.gov/oilgas/undergroundfaq.asp

Six states are considered to have 'at risk' areas of induced seismicity; North Dakota is not one of them. (The USGS lists two earthquakes in the state since 2008 that were of magnitude greater than 2.5, and one of them was outside oil producing areas and far too deep to be associated with oil production or fluid disposal).



Other injection wells have been used to dispose of fluids from other industries as well, from the chemical industry to nuclear weapons manufacturing. The above applies to the oil patch.

[Quix]

@Quix

Remember the chaos theory proved by a mathematician years ago. Earth follows this chaos theory:  earth is in movement all the time, bit by bit, until a final flutter of the butterfly's wings happens, then there is chaos and earthquakes, volcano eruption, etc.. 

LOL. Indeed.

. . . a new Heaven and a new earth are slated.

[Quix]

In the production end of the oil industry, the purpose is disposal of water that is too saline to release into the surface environment. The salt water is water that was produced with the oil, not some additive, and these wells are used to dispose of that water. Basically, the water is a remnant of the same marine environment the rock formed in. When oil is produced, some salt water is produced with it, that water native to the rock formation the oil came out of.
 The salts present may be more concentrated than they are in seawater, but for the most part are Sodium chloride (halite), potassium chloride, and possibly some magnesium salts. This is naturally occurring, and not an industrial byproduct aside from being produced in conjunction with oil and gas. Hydrogen sulfide may also be present, the result of anaerobic activity in the same rock formation the oil was produced from, and in that case, usually the crude oil has H₂S in it as well, dissolved in the oil (referred to as "sour crude") and produced water. "Sweet" crude oil has no or extremely low Hydrogen Sulfide content (below 1PPM, the threshold for smelling Hydrogen Sulfide, which gives off an odor like rotten eggs).

Salt brines containing calcium chloride and calcium bromide are used in the industry as heavy brines to contain wellbore pressure when removing the drill string to change out downhole tools ("tripping out")  and running those tools in ("tripping in), but are expensive, specially formulated brines and are recovered as much as possible to be reused for the same purpose on subsequent trips. These are used when the hydrostatic pressure exerted by saturated sodium chloride (regular table salt) solutions is not enough to keep the well from flowing--a situation which could lead to a blowout. The calcium chloride and calcium bromide brines weigh more per gallon when the solution is saturated than the sodium chloride brines, so they exert greater hydrostatic pressure for any given height of fluid column. Eventually, these may become contaminated to the degree they are disposed of along with production water.

Disposal wells are often oil wells that did not produce, but which had a suitable stratum to dispose of fluid in, although some are drilled for that purpose from the start. As a result, the well is constructed similar to an oil well, with surface casing to protect groundwater, and another casing string in the wellbore, like production casing in a producing well, down past the rock layer the fluid will be injected into. That casing is perforated, much the same as an oil well would be, to allow communication between the wellbore and the rock layer the fluids will be injected into. Casing strings are cemented in place, and the bond between the casing and the rock (cement quality) checked with a casing bond logging tool, which indicates any bad spots in that cement, should they exist. Those can be fixed by 'squeezing' (perforating the casing at the bad cement, setting packers above and below the perforations, and pumping cement into any voids behind the casing). Then the cement left in the wellbore is drilled out, along with the packers, and the wellbore is open for business.

A primer on disposal wells and seismic activity is available from the USGS at this link http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/induced/myths.php and more detail here: http://media.wix.com/ugd/d3e01e_7a12408392f240c89943d3f500039004.pdf.

North Dakota has a good basic Q&A about disposal wells: https://www.dmr.nd.gov/oilgas/undergroundfaq.asp

Six states are considered to have 'at risk' areas of induced seismicity; North Dakota is not one of them. (The USGS lists two earthquakes in the state since 2008 that were of magnitude greater than 2.5, and one of them was outside oil producing areas and far too deep to be associated with oil production or fluid disposal).



Other injection wells have been used to dispose of fluids from other industries as well, from the chemical industry to nuclear weapons manufacturing. The above applies to the oil patch.

What an excellent and informative narrative. THANKS THANKS.