Prince George, B.C.-  A two year  study on recent  seismic activity in the north east of BC, specifically the Montney Play area,  has confirmed  the  shakers were  the result of  hydraulic fracturing  and  warns  induced quakes  could have a bigger impact than  natural events of the same intensity.

Dr. Honn Kao, with Natural Resources Canada,   co authored the report which  looked at  676  events  from the fall of 2014,  though to  December 31, 2015  that had been recorded by Progress Energy.  The study included an examination of the 4.6 quake experienced in  August of 2015.Although links between  increased seismicity and  hydraulic fracturing  were  established in previous studies in the region,  Dr. Kao says the  seismicity in the Montney Play is a little more complicated “Because we not only have hydraulic fracturing,  but also  waste water injection.”

He says preliminary studies  indicate the  hydraulic fracturing operations,  not  waste water injection,  are linked to  the  earthquakes  they  studied “Progress energy  agrees with our conclusions.”

He says the waste water injection  process in Canada  is causing  fewer number of  earthquakes compared to hydraulic fracturing “That’s a different  conclusion from what is now observed in the United States.”    He says  researchers are still trying to determine why  the U.S.  situation   links  waste water  injection  to  the earthquakes in that country  “One thing can be very clear from the observations  what we have, here in Canada certainly appears to be  very different from what we have in the United States.”

The information  gathered in this study   will be used to try and develop methods that would mitigate  the potential for  damaging earthquakes  “Now that we recognize the link between injection operations and induced earthquakes,  what can we do  in terms of the operations side,  so that  we will not  cause the earthquakes to be large enough  that they  have hazard implications.  I think that’s really the  current direction  of all the research efforts.”

He says the study  points out the  importance of recognizing the  seismic hazard implications of induced earthquakes.  He says  induced earthquakes  are taking place at much shallower depths  than  a natural incident,  so the energy  released  can travel  much  further  with the potential  to cause significant  shaking,  and possibly  damaging  infrastructure and  buildings.

Dr. Kao  says  the information  will be  presented to regulatory  agencies, “So that when they improve or revise their regulatory process,  they will have  something that will back up their action.”

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