No correlation between earthquake in the Marche and drilling: the opinion of seismologists
There are no correlations between the earthquake with its epicenter in the Marche and drilling in the Adriatic: this is what the seismologists say
Could the earthquake that yesterday awakened the citizens of the Marche , and of a large part of the north Adriatic coast, have been caused by drilling in the Adriatic ? The unanimous answer of seismologists and geologists is a firm "no".
A COMPRESSIVE EARTHQUAKE
Yesterday morning's earthquake "has all the typical characteristics of a natural earthquake in the Adriatic coastal area," Carlo Meletti from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (Ingv) told Wired . The Adriatic coast is a known seismic area , in which earthquakes of similar intensity, sometimes even higher than today, have already been recorded in the past. "In this area – explains the expert – the most advanced portion of the Apennines overlaps the Adriatic plate : an area of convergence in which two plates overlap one another, giving rise to compressive earthquakes ".
GEOLOGIST FARABOLLINI: "NO CORRELATION BETWEEN EARTHQUAKE AND DRILLING"
Protesters of drilling in the Adriatic Sea flooded social networks, Twitter in particular, with "rhetorical" questions in which drilling in the sea was correlated with the seismic swarm taking place near the Marche coast . To remove all doubts, Piero Farabollini , president of the Order of Geologists of the Marches, took care of it. "I absolutely feel like saying that there is no correlation" said geologist to the microphones of Radio Anch'io on Radio Rai 1. " Simple drilling does not give events of this type – he explains -, such a strong magnitude is unthinkable that can be linked to drilling ".
NO EARTHQUAKE FROM EXTRACTION, ONLY MINIMAL SHOCKS
Yet it happened that the drilling of the gas present underground caused small earthquakes. “I studied the Val d'Agri well, where the extraction causes very small earthquakes – said Claudio Chiarabba , director of the earthquake department of Ingv, National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, in Repubblica -. But they are minimal shocks, very close to the wells and superficial. In the Marche we are dealing with tectonic mechanisms of wider scope. More information is welcome, but I would exclude a link ”. There is an extensive bibliography on earthquakes caused by mining activities and “studies carried out mainly by American researchers since numerous induced earthquakes have occurred in the United States following the extraction of shale gas. But the history and monitoring of these events has shown that they are superficial and low-magnitude events ”, the geologist Farabollini told Repubblica .
ONE OF THE STRONGEST SEISMS THAT HAPPENED IN THAT AREA IN THE 1900s
To echo him, the geologist Farabollini stressed that “ drilling in itself does not involve any seismic shaking , it is rather the extraction and storage activities that can do it. In any case, the earthquakes linked to these activities are of a lower magnitude, generally never more than 4.5-5 and maximum depths of 3-4 kilometers ”. So yesterday morning's earthquake, which was very strong, has no correlation with drilling activities. It's still. the earthquake that occurred yesterday " is one of the strongest in this area since the twentieth century " because these faults "can produce earthquakes with an estimated maximum magnitude of 6, unlike the Apennine faults where earthquakes up to magnitude 7 can be produced. today was very strong. To make some comparisons, it was not since 1930 that such a strong earthquake occurred off the northern coast of the Marche : the event off the coast of Senigallia, on October 30, 1930, reached a magnitude of 5.8, the same as the earthquake off Rimini in 1916. ”, Concluded the geologist.
THE CONCERNS OF ELEONORA EVI: "POSSIBLE ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGES"
Eleonora Evi , deputy and co-spokesperson for the Greens, attacked on Twitter the idea of the Meloni government to reactivate drilling, underlining how these activities, in an earthquake-prone area, can potentially cause ecological disasters . “And the #Meloni government wants to start over with the #drives. Not only is this an absurd idea for the very serious #crisiclimatica in progress but also for the potential environmental damage in terms of safety in a seismic area ".
Yet I wrote in Italian (many have exploited my words):
I didn't write that drills cause earthquakes.
In areas ALREADY sisimic if you put the spikes there is a greater risk of devastating accidents for the environment. https://t.co/FLGh6eFTMA– Eleonora Evi (@EleonoraEvi) November 9, 2022
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/nessuna-correlazione-tra-terremoto-nelle-marche-e-trivellazioni-il-parere-dei-sismologi/ on Thu, 10 Nov 2022 14:35:35 +0000.