UTEP seismologist breaks down West Texas Earthquake
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Parts of borderland shook in the early hours of Wednesday morning, after a 5.3 magnitude earthquake was recorded in Mentone, Texas, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
5.3 Magnitude Earthquake in West Texas felt in El Paso
The earthquake occurred at 3:27 a.m., prompting worried El Pasoans to leave voicemails on KTSM’s phone line. Callers were for the most part confused, with some even wondering if it was a bomb.
KTSM spoke with University of Texas at El Paso Seismologist Aaron Velasco, who explained that West Texas has seen a “rapid increase” in the number of earthquakes in the last three years.
The scientific consensus is that the cause for the increased seismic activity in the region is related to salt water disposal, according to Dr. Velasco. He adds that this is a result of Hydraulic Fracturing, more commonly known as fracking.
“That means Hydro is water at high pressure to crack the rock so that we can get oil and gas that’s actually within the rock itself. With that process, because you have all this water, you get the output as water, oil and gas and that water has chemicals in it that you use to extract the oil and gas.” said Dr. Velasco. “The cheapest thing to do right now with that water is to inject it back into the ground. And so, the challenge we have now is that with hydraulic fracturing becomes hand-in-hand with disposal wells.”
Dr. Velasco describes them as “induced earthquakes,” and says that they continue to occur more frequently in West Texas, because in recent history, Texas has been injecting “quite a bit” of fluids into the ground.
“But I want to emphasize that those faults that are moving are ancient faults. They’re still there. And all we’ve done is change the stress state of the faults. By injecting fluids, you’re making them weaker. By pulling the two sides apart what you’re doing is it allows them to slip. So by fracking itself, you’re not creating faults. The injection that we’re doing is that we’re inducing the faults to move a lot sooner than they would otherwise” said Dr. Velasco, explaining how the earthquakes occur.
Dr. Velasco urges the borderland community to think of this as a wake-up call of what to do during an earthquake or any emergency, so that they are prepared and make themselves safer.
While earthquakes in West Texas aren’t likely to cause severe damage, Dr. Velasco says it is important for El Pasoans to be informed, especially when they travel to places where earthquakes can be very severe.
“Don’t run outside, it’s a big thing. You know, shelter in place. Try to get underneath the table. Get away from falling, potential flying debris. Identify what could be dangerous. Have a communication plan with your families,” said Dr. Velasco
Dr. Velasco says they are developing an earthquake center in El Paso, called the “Center for Collective Impact in Earthquake Science.” Dr. Velasco explains that one of the focuses of their research at the moment is to figure out why certain parts of the city feel the rumble from the earthquakes more than others.
Dr. Velasco also urges the community to report what they felt on the United States Geological website, to help them with their research.
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