Regulators: No Evidence Wells Caused 4.0 Quake near Venus

[TexasTowelie]

After wrapping up a round of testing, Texas regulators say they have found no evidence that injecting oilfield waste into five disposal wells triggered the largest recorded earthquake in North Texas’ history.

“At this time, there is no conclusive evidence the disposal wells tested were a causal factor in the May 7 seismic event,” the Texas Railroad Commission said Friday in a news release.

Last month, a 4.0-magnitude earthquake hit Johnson County, leading to a few reports of minor damage. It was the most powerful ever recorded in the Barnett Shale region, including more than 50 quakes that have struck since November 2013 — a surge that has coincided with the proliferation of disposal wells, deep resting places for liquid oil and gas waste injected underground at high pressures.

Under rules adopted last year, the Railroad Commission ordered testing at five disposal wells, which the four companies that operate them voluntarily shut down. On Friday, the commission said its analysis of “fall-off pressure”– tests to determine the effects of injections at the well sites – turned up no fault patterns nearby that could have been related to the earthquakes.

Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/12/railroad-commission-no-industry-ties-large-north-t/

[DhhD]

1. It could be subsidence. Pumping water from aquifers, then forcing it to the wells, recovering the

dirty water and moving it into injection wells, is a lot of water weight being moved around. Water is the supporting structure for the geological layers riding above, like the Barnett Shale. Below the deep aquifers is the rock of the N. American Continental craton. The Venus quake was very deep. So the earthquake was probably from subsidence or sinking of the ground. Part of the edge of the craton is the Balcones Escarpment. There are other deep failed rifts and failed rift valleys along the edge, in the North Texas region. Do we have any scientific measurements of the drop level? I do not think the Railroad Commission cares. Now lets think about the subsidence under downtown Dallas if the band on fracking is removed by the State. Oh, wait, that just happened, thanks to the Land Commissioner of Texas and the Extremist GOP controlled Texas Legislature.

California is subsiding rather quickly. It has sunk about 30 feet in the past few decades. It is from subsidence of pumping water for crops and for the oil business. The water is dirty.

Houston is subsiding as well as moving southeastward. Everything east and south of the Balcones Escarpment and failed rift, is tipping southeastward, as well. Off the Texas coast is an area of volcanism.

[kentauros]

2. I have no idea whether water subsidence would cause such an earthquake,

but we do get subsidence from the withdrawal of oil, too. And it resides much deeper in the crust. It would be interesting to see a comparison by a geologist to show whether subsidence by oil withdrawal could have been a factor.

[DhhD]

3. There are studies made in California.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=Subsidence+from+OIl+extraction+in+California

[DhhD]

4. Oil floats on water. T. Boone Pickens owns many of the now dry oil wells in W. Texas that are full

of water. Water seeps in from the Ogallala Aquifer in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico (on the N.A. craton).

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-ogallala-aquifer/

http://www.saveballona.org/gasoilfields/WilmSubGC.pdf

There are many more reads just by doing research and fine tuning by changing a few words in the search box. Hope you discover more about, what is called "dry holes", in West Texas drilling. The rock under West Texas is extremely hard and can support the ground above with little to no subsidence. Then you have playa lakes that recharge the Ogallaga straight downward. Texas, above the Caprock is composed of very hard rock joints near the surface. And there is harder rock still, under that. It takes a different kind of drill bit for hard rock.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurentia
snip

The metamorphic and igneous rocks of the "basement complex" were formed 1.5 to 1.0 billion years ago in a tectonically active setting.[5] It was a setting of great pressure and temperature. The younger sedimentary rocks that were deposited on top of this basement complex were formed in a setting of quiet marine and river waters.

more at site link

[kentauros]

5. I know that oil floats on water.

But my limited experience with (and study of) geology was that oil deposits existed below aquifers due to their formation so many millions of years in the past.

And yes, I looked online, only to find oodles of reports that get into stuff way over my head, and next to nothing of what I wanted: crust cross-sections, and typical locations of oil deposits and water aquifers.

Of course, I could just write to my petroleum-engineer of a father and ask him

[DhhD]

6. Oil can exist under impermeable rock that does not allow water from an above aquifer to flow down

until there is a bore hole crack or fissure from an earthquake or pressure change due to the fracking process.

Just wanted to add that natural gas is trapped above oil sometimes too. So that means a cavity can be filled with oil or oil and gas or water oil and gas that is under pressure or not under much pressure. Black gold can be tar pits with vapors and water.

[ananda]

7. Ali Velshi piece on fracking in Texas

This segment on AJAM this morning was pretty informative.

The frackers pretty much have carte blanche to do whatever
they want in Texas, with local municipalities now banned from
banning fracking in their areas.

It's not a pretty picture. The main conclusion of the piece
seems to say that the only inhibitor to fracking is keeping
the price of oil down.

I came away secure in the belief that our uninhibited love affair
with oil and big energy is going to be our downfall.

But at least the people and corporations with mineral rights will
get rich taking us all down. That's the only thing that matters.