from Hacker News

Gas Fracking may cause earthquakes

by chris_gogreen on 11/2/11, 4:48 PM with 4 comments

• by hugh3 on 11/2/11, 5:10 PM

  Magnitude 3. Big deal. That's what happens when you break rocks -- they shake around a bit. In fact, I'd say gas fracking is earthquakes -- you characterize what you're doing underground using a seismometer and picking up the vibrations.

  Saying "but if fracking can cause small earthquakes, might it not one day cause a large one" is a bit like saying "if your cat can devour a mouse, how do we know it won't one day devour an entire city?"

• by mattlong on 11/2/11, 5:34 PM

  Old news. A couple weeks ago there was a magnitude 4.8 near San Antonio, TX caused by fracking[1].

  [1]:http://www.woai.com/news/local/story/Could-fracking-be-at-fa...