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A study released Monday afternoon by the Seismological Society of America confirms — again — that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, activity associated with natural gas drilling in the Ohio portion of the Marcellus Shale induced a "rare seismic sequence" last March. Put more simply: Fracking caused an earthquake.

"It remains rare for hydraulic fracturing to cause larger earthquakes that are felt by humans," the organization noted in a prepared statement. "However, due to seismic monitoring advances and the increasing popularity of hydraulic fracturing to recover hydrocarbons, the number of earthquakes – felt and unfelt – associated with hydraulic fracturing has increased in the past decade."

Anti-fracking protests in Ohio sometimes turn on fear of earthquakes, which are possible, but rarely felt. (Photo: Flickr/CC/ProgressOhio)

It makes some sense. Fracking, as its name implies, involves the explosive fracturing of shale rock formations deep underground, as a way of creating cracks and fissures from which trapped natural gas can escape up the well bore and to the surface. That this might now and then nudge a previously unknown fault to noticeably rumble or shift seems elementary, if uncommon. Low-level seismicity is actually detected during fracking operations all the time, but at magnitudes that are virtually imperceptible to most people.

And as noted by the industry-run site Energy in Depth, the findings published this week — which grew out of work by researchers at Miami University of Ohio — only reinforce what was already suspected by anyone paying attention. Indeed, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources only needed a month after last spring's quakes, which registered as high as 3.0 in magnitude and in one case was felt throughout Poland Township, to toughen its regulations on drilling near known fault lines and other areas of potential seismic activity.

Of course, concerns about earthquakes emanating from fracking activity go back much further, and while it's singing a different tune now, the oil and gas industry spent a good deal of time and energy attempting to dispel the idea of a link. See, for example, a scolding article from last year by Energy In Depth's California contingent, which declares: "We’ve tackled this issue before and explained that claiming a 'direct link' between hydraulic fracturing and earthquakes is a willful attempt to misinform the public."

The Ohio study, which matched specific seismic events between March 4th and March 12th to well stimulation reports released by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, should put a permanent end to those sorts of assertions.

"We just don’t know where all the faults are located,” Robert Skoumal, a PhD candidate in geophysics and seismology at Miami University of Ohio and one of the co-authors of the new research, said in press release accompanying the study. "It makes sense to have close cooperation among government, industry and the scientific community as hydraulic fracturing operations expand in areas where there’s the potential for unknown pre-existing faults."