• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
Celebrating our 1,000th edition. The climate news you need
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  FEATURED
BREAKING: U.S. Senate Passes Historic $369B Climate Package August 7, 2022
Researchers Point To ‘Dangerously Unexplored’ Risk of Global Climate Catastrophe August 2, 2022
Koch Network Pressures Manchin, Sinema as Advocates Praise ‘Game Changing’ Climate Deal August 2, 2022
Coastal GasLink Cost Skyrockets 70% to $11.2B August 2, 2022
Ottawa Releases Regulatory ‘Frame’ for Net-Zero Grid by 2035 August 2, 2022
Next
Prev

‘Punctured Like a Pin Cushion’, Texas Oilpatch is Sinking (Geophysically Speaking)

March 25, 2018
Reading time: 2 minutes

Larry Pardue/Facebook

Larry Pardue/Facebook

 

Intensive oil and gas development is causing rapid ground movement across a 4,000-square-mile swath of the Permian Basin in West Texas, leading geophysicists to suggest that two giant sinkholes near the town of Wink, TX may be the leading edge of a much larger, more dangerous trend.

In one spot, the earth has moved as much as 40 inches over 2½ years, EcoWatch reports, citing a new study in the journal Scientific Reports. “The ground movement we’re seeing is not normal,” said Southern Methodist University (SMU) earth scientist and report co-author Zhong Lu. “The ground doesn’t typically do this without some cause.”

The SMU team “made the discovery after analyzing radar satellite imagery taken between November 2014 and April 2017,” EcoWatch notes. “Combined with oil-well production data from the Railroad Commission of Texas, the researchers concluded that the area’s sinking and uplifting ground is associated with decades of oil activity and its effect on rocks below Earth’s surface.”

“Based on our observations and analyses, human activities of fluid (saltwater, CO2) injection for stimulation of hydrocarbon production, salt dissolution in abandoned oil facilities, and hydrocarbon extraction each have negative impacts on the ground surface and infrastructures, including possible induced seismicity,” the journal article states.

The team’s previous work in 2016 showed that the existing “Wink Sinks” are expanding, and new ones are forming.

EcoWatch notes that the study took place in a region “populated by four counties and six towns, in addition to a vast network of oil and gas pipelines and storage tanks.” Lu cautioned that “these hazards represent a danger to residents, roads, railroads, levees, dams, and oil and gas pipelines, as well as potential pollution of groundwater. Proactive, continuous, detailed monitoring from space is critical to secure the safety of people and property.”

The research team also warns that the geophysical issues it’s raising could apply to other parts of the state’s oilpatch. “This region of Texas has been punctured like a pin cushion with oil wells and injection wells since the 1940s, and our findings associate that activity with ground movement,” said co-author Jin-Woo Kim. “Our analysis looked at just this 4,000-square-mile area. We’re fairly certain that when we look further, and we are, we’ll find there’s ground movement even beyond that.”



in Health & Safety, Oil & Gas, United States

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Bernard Spragg/flickr
Energy Politics

$12.3B in Profit over 3 Months as Big Fossils Reject Federal Emissions Cap

August 11, 2022
252
Σ64/Wikimedia Commons
Hydrogen

Global Push for Hydrogen Sidesteps Knowledge Gaps on Climate Impacts

August 11, 2022
298
Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion

Focus Blame for Climate Change on Fossils and Governments, Ecoanalytics Advises

August 11, 2022
125

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Bernard Spragg/flickr

$12.3B in Profit over 3 Months as Big Fossils Reject Federal Emissions Cap

August 11, 2022
252
Σ64/Wikimedia Commons

Global Push for Hydrogen Sidesteps Knowledge Gaps on Climate Impacts

August 11, 2022
298
Protect The Planet

Trans Mountain Work Site Blocks Early Salmon Run on Coquihalla River, Local Observers Say

August 11, 2022
382
François GOGLINS/wikimedia commons

Corrosion Problem Shutters Half of France’s Nuclear Reactors

August 2, 2022
1.6k
Joseph Brent/Flickr

Green Hydrogen Will Cost Less than Fossil-Fuelled ‘Blue’, Shell CEO Admits

August 7, 2022
756
Early stages of construction on the Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor in France

Failing French Nuclear Plants Drive Up Electricity Costs as Heat Waves Cut Production

August 8, 2022
530

Recent Posts

Focus Blame for Climate Change on Fossils and Governments, Ecoanalytics Advises

August 11, 2022
125
TheKurgan/Wikipedia

Ontario Pension Giant May Be Getting the Memo on Fossil Divestment, Members Say

August 11, 2022
101
@stan_sdcollins/Twitter

Stranded Communities Hope for Emergency Food Supplies as Newfoundland Wildfires Rage

August 11, 2022
52
Maurizio Pesce/Wikimedia Commons

Tesla Lobbying Points to Ontario as Possible EV Manufacturing Site

August 11, 2022
41
MENA/Flickr

Ontario Gains from U.S. EV Tax Credit, But Plans No Incentives for Local Drivers

August 11, 2022
39
Twitter

Shelling of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Plant Raises Fears for Nuclear Safety

August 11, 2022
36
Next Post
Gouvernement français/Wikimedia Commons

No Trade Deals with Countries that Don’t Support Paris Deal, Macron Urges EU

The Energy Mix

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}