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The study, published Tuesday in Seismological Research Letters, reports that fracking waste injection wells are now the leading cause of earthquakes in Texas. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves thrusting chemicals and water against shale rock to break it up and release oil or gas. The process produces large amounts of waste fluid, or brine, that is either recycled or disposed of in injection wells.
Earthquakes are the result of plates grinding and slipping past each other. The energy responsible for these tectonic plate shifts, drifts, collisions, and interactions originate deep in Earth's inner core and is manifest in the outer core/mantle dynamics.