Earthquakes are moving northeast in Midland Basin of Texas, scientists find

[Jim__]

From phys.org

A composite figure showing the seismic landscape of the Midland Basin from 2017-2023. Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin recently described earthquake-generating structures and zones in the region. The research shows that earthquakes appear to be moving northeast toward the edge of the basin along a rift structure. The figure shows induced seismicity (gray crosses), large earthquakes of Magnitude 4 or higher (light blue stars), a subsurface structure the researchers think is a rift (pink dashes), and earthquake producing zones (numbered green boxes). A dark blue star marks the location of the Range Hill event, a Magnitude 5.2 earthquake that occurred on Nov. 16, 2022. After the event, two earthquake swarms (denoted by two black circles) occurred in March and November 2023 (labeled A and B, respectively), suggesting that earthquake swarms have migrated northeastward. The earthquake cluster near Snyder is outside the scope of the Midland Basin study but is currently being studied by the scientists. Credit: Dino Huang, et al. / Jackson School of Geosciences
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After analyzing seven years of earthquake data from the Midland Basin, a team of scientists at The University of Texas at Austin has found that seismic activity is probably on the move northeast toward the community of Big Spring.

Although most past quakes happened in the southwest region near Odessa and Midland, the researchers have identified a seismicity trend moving along a newly identified and extensive seismogenic fault zone stretching toward the northeast edge of the basin.

"The fault zone has been activated, and it has the capability to trigger additional earthquakes that can be felt by humans, especially because it's so close to major cities along Interstate 20," said Dino Huang, a research assistant professor at the Jackson School of Geosciences who led the research.

The results were published (behind a paywall - Jim) in the journal Seismological Research Letters.

[Lovie777]

1. Oil.....................

[Jim__]

2. Yes - the article talks about that toward the end - wastewater from oil and gas extraction.