This week's edition of Nature magazine establishes a link between energy production and large-scale earthquakes in the USA. The causes? Methods to extract natural gas, production of geothermal energy and the injection of fluids underground. The proof? Numerous earthquakes which have already occurred in the United States of America.

Is the energy lobby placing our lives at risk? According to the latest research, a series of three articles published in Science magazine and appraised in Nature*,  it would appear so. The article referenced below claims that when fluids are injected into wells, they lubricate fault lines and can increase slippage. This means that large-scale tremors elsewhere, such as Chile, can cause earthquakes at well-injection sites in the USA.

To blame, according to the research, are methods to extract natural gas, production of geothermal energy and the injection of fluids underground. The evidence backing these claims is considerable.

The first paper, analysed in the study, is by US seismologist William Ellsworth (Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California), who points out that the number of earthquakes hitting the central and eastern states in the USA is skyrocketing when compared with the past. Between 1967 and 2000, there was an average of 21 quakes at magnitude 3.0 or higher. In 2011, the figure was a staggering 188.

Continue reading at:  http://english.pravda.ru/science/earth/16-07-2013/125157-energy_ear...