A team of geoscience researchers in the Virginia Tech College of Science has developed a new theory to explain how and why injection-induced earthquakes continue to occur even when injection rates decline. Experts have known since the 1960s that when oilfield wastewater is pumped into the ground with deep injection wells, earthquakes can occur. Over the past decade, injection-induced earthquakes have become regular occurrences throughout oil and gas basins worldwide, particularly in the central United States, and potentially in China and Canada, as well.
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