SMU Research Originally Posted: Nov. 4, 2019 A new analysis of historical seismic data conducted by The University of Texas at Austin, SMU and other academies has found that earthquake activity in West Texas around Pecos has increased dramatically since 2009. The study, published Nov. 4, 2019, in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, […]
Tag: seismology
The Tyee Originally Posted: March 1, 2018 Recent studies on hydraulic fracturing suggest the technology is causing more earthquakes than expected and that it doesn’t take the injection of much fluid to trigger a tremor. In addition, researchers warn that the industry’s increasing reliance on “supersized” fracking using massive volumes of fluid and sand in […]
Dallas Morning News Originally Posted: February 21, 2018 “Faults are not like a light switch – you don’t turn off a well and automatically stop triggering earthquakes.” — Heather DeShon, SMU seismologist. Earthquakes beneath DFW International Airport continued for seven years after an oil and gas company shut a nearby wastewater injection well that had been […]
EurekaAlert Originally Posted: Feb. 13, 2018 High rates of injection and large volumes can perturb critically stressed faults, triggering earthquakes years after wastewater wells are shut in IMAGE: STUDY AREA FOR THE DFW AIRPORT EARTHQUAKE SEQUENCE. YELLOW TRIANGLES ARE THE 2008-2009 SMU OPERATED STATIONS. BLUE ASTERISKS ARE THE EARTHQUAKES REPORTED BY THE 2013-2016 SMU EARTHQUAKE CATALOG, […]
Fox 4 Originally Posted: February 5, 2018 SMU Associate Professor of Geophysics Heather DeShon and Senior Research Scientist Cliff Frohlich of the Institute for Geophysics talk about the link between earthquakes and human activities. Earthquakes triggered by human activity have been happening in Texas since at least 1925, and they have been widespread throughout the […]
Washington Post Originally Posted: November 24, 2017 An unnatural number of earthquakes hit Texas in the past decade, and the region’s seismic activity is increasing. In 2008, two earthquakes stronger than magnitude 3 struck the state. Eight years later, 12 did. Natural forces trigger most earthquakes. But humans are causing earthquakes, too, with mining and dam construction the […]
KERA Originally Posted: November 13, 2017 The same fault that produced the 4 magnitude earthquake in May 2015 in Johnson County — the strongest ever recorded in North Texas — could create an even larger one in the future, a recent study has found. Heather DeShon, a seismologist at Southern Methodist University, led the study […]
Dallas Morning News Originally Posted: September 8, 2017 At 9:30 p.m. Central time last Saturday, detectors around the world picked up signs of a massive explosion in the vicinity of North Korea’s nuclear test site. The country claimed, for the second time in less than two years, that it had successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb, a weapon […]
NBC 5 Originally Posted: August 25, 2017 The United States Geological Survey said a preliminary 3.1 magnitude earthquake rattled Dallas Friday morning. The epicenter of earthquake was recorded just north of Texas 114 near the Irving-Dallas border at about 6:40 a.m. No damage reports have been received. Seismologists with Dallas’ Southern Methodist University have been […]
Dallas News Originally Posted: November 17, 2016 A white Chevy Suburban with “Railroad Commission of Texas” emblazoned on its side rolled north on Interstate 35. Behind the wheel sat Milton Rister, the commission’s director. Trim and balding, Rister was a veteran political operator who had held influential positions within the Texas Republican Party for decades. […]