As part of a post evaluation studies performed to ascertain the cause of major disasters, a 4.0 magnitude earthquake that occurred on Dec. 31,2011 as well as smaller quakes have been linked to the Northstar 1 injection well.
Learn more about Injection well
The Ohio department of Natural resurces recently released a copy of the permit, which was dated June 6 and gives the owner the permission to cement the well at various locations across its 9,192 feet of depth.
The main purpose of plugging a well is so that Oil, gas, water or other fluids are confined to the reservoir rock in which it occurs, and such well, once plugged and abandoned, is unlikely to return to use.
Research into the causes of the 4.0 earthquake by the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University indicated that as many as 109 tremors between January 2011 and February 2012 were directly linked to the Northstar 1 injection well, which is on the city’s West Side. Researchers found that the first earthquake was recorded in the city 13 days after the well came online in December 2010 and continued to be responsible for the tremors that persisted into 2012.
The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Geophysical Research Solid Earth.in 2012, the ODNR released a similar report that strongly suggested the well played a part in the earthquakes after the agency said operators drilled too deeply into a layer of basement rock, known as the Precambrian, 9,000 feet below the earth’s surface.When liquid was pumped at high pressure into the rocks, it caused them to crack, acting as a lubricant that allowed the rocks to slip under the weight of those above them, triggering the tremors, including the six quakes that could be felt throughout Youngstown and surrounding cities and towns.
North Star disposal has until June 6, 2019 to plug this well.
Source:The Vindicator
0 comments:
Post a Comment