Pumping water underground for power may have triggered South Korean quake

[rangerrebew]

Pumping water underground for power may have triggered South Korean quake
Enhanced geothermal systems marshal the Earth’s subsurface heat for electricity
By
Carolyn Gramling
11:19am, April 27, 2018


Injecting fluid into the ground for geothermal power generation may have caused the magnitude 5.5 earthquake that shook part of South Korea on November 15, 2017. The liquid, pumped underground by the Pohang power plant, could have triggered a rupture along a nearby fault zone that was already stressed, two new studies suggest.

If it’s confirmed that the plant is the culprit, the Pohang quake, which injured 70 people and caused $50 million in damages, would be the largest ever induced by enhanced geothermal systems, or EGS. The technology involves high-pressure pumping of cold water into the ground to widen existing, small fractures in the subsurface, creating paths for the water to circulate and be heated by hot rock. The plant then retrieves the water and converts the heat into power.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/pumping-water-underground-power-may-have-triggered-south-korean-quake

[rangerrebew]

This "science" couldn't have anything to do with anti-fracking protests in the U.S., by any chance?

[IsailedawayfromFR]

This is a common approach taken for most geothermal power plants, to pump water to widen fractures.