Category: Journals

Fiber Optics Identify Geohazards for Offshore Wind Projects While Tracking Whale Movements

Published on | Journals, News, SRL
The position of the DAS optic fiber cable after location correction.

10 January 2025—Using an existing telecommunications fiber optic cable running along the sea floor, researchers identified faults and tracked the locations of whales traveling up and down the central California coast. Their study, published in Seismological Research Letters, demonstrates the potential of distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) for visualizing the geohazards … Continue Reading »

Groundwater Depletion May Have Been Significant Trigger for 2023 Morocco Earthquake

Published on | BSSA, Journals, News
building rubble from 2023 Al Haouz Morocco earthquake in_Tizi_NTest

24 December 2024–The rapid, decade-long depletion of groundwater in Morocco’s Haouz plain may have affected the accumulation of tectonic stress that led to the deadly 8 September 2023 magnitude 6.8 Al Haouz earthquake, according to a new study published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. Bhaskar Kundu … Continue Reading »

Events of 1973 Chilean Coup Captured in Historical Seismograms

Published on | Community, Journals, News, SRL

11 December 2024–Military vehicles rumbling toward the presidential palace, bombs dropped by the Chilean Air Force, and an eerie quiet descending over Santiago after a curfew imposed by a military junta—a lone seismometer captured all these features of the 1973 Chilean coup d’état. In Seismological Research Letters, Sergio León-Rios of … Continue Reading »

Plugged Wells and Reduced Injection Lower Induced Earthquake Rates in Oklahoma

Published on | Journals, News, TSR
Difference between pre-plug back and post-plug back depth for wells that were initially injecting into the Precambrian basement or lower Arbuckle. Inset shows the location of these plugged back wells (colored triangles) and other disposal wells (grey triangles) within area of interest. Inset cross-section shows schematic of a disposal well that was plugged back out of the lowermost portion of the Arbuckle. | Skoumal et al. (2024) TSR

13 November 2024–Wastewater injection resulting from oil and gas production in Oklahoma caused a dramatic rise in seismic activity in the state between 2009 and 2015. But regulatory efforts to backfill some injection wells with cement and reduce injection volumes have been effective in lowering the state’s induced earthquake rate, … Continue Reading »