New Delhi: A strong earthquake shook the Himalayan nation Nepal today with more than 100 people dead and many other reportedly missing.
Meanwhile, a report released by the United States Geological Survey on Thursday has revealed that there is a strong link between earthquakes and exploration of oil and gas operations.
The study which was carried across 17 regions shows how the occurrence of earthquakes is closely related with oil and gas exploration.The heightened activity of human beings to draw out more and more of natural resources has only increased the risk of earthquakes in those areas.
The agency carried out the study in the US region of Okhlahoma, where earthquakes are more frequent than any other region in USA.The research found out that because of the disposal of wastewater left over from extracting fuels and from drilling wells by injecting water into the earth is damaging the natural equilibrium in that region.
“Oklahoma used to experience one or two earthquakes per year of magnitude 3 or greater, and now they're experiencing one or two a day,” Mark Petersen, the chief author of the report, said. “Oklahoma now has more earthquakes of that magnitude than California.”
It is for the first time that Oklahoma's state government acknowledged that that wastewater disposal linked to oil and gas drilling was to blame for the huge surge in earthquakes there.
The waste water to dispose of waste from drilling or production is a far greater contributor to earthquakes.Many scientific reports, published over decades, have said that pumping fluids into the ground at high pressure can set off earthquakes.
