MOSCOW (Sputnik) – On Thursday, Xuewei Bao and David W. Eaton from Canada's University of Calgary published an article dubbed "Fault activation by hydraulic fracturing in western Canada" in the Science magazine, which described the connection between fracking activities in Canada and earthquakes.
"Hydraulic fracturing has been inferred to trigger the majority of injection-induced earthquakes in western Canada, in contrast to the midwestern United States where massive saltwater disposal is the dominant triggering mechanism," the research said.
The research added that comparative analysis of information about fracking activities and quakes showed that seismic activities in western Canada had almost coincided both in time and space with injections.
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a method to extract shale gas and oil by injecting toxic liquid into the ground under high pressure. The method is heavily criticized for the associated environmental risks and its potential to trigger earthquakes.
