On
May 25, 2014 at 23:43:45 UTC, according to the American Geological Institute website[1]a 2.8 Richter
earthquake took place at a location with GPS coordinates 39.165 ° N 107.848 °
W. The earthquake was associated with the landslide that occurred near the town
of Collbran, Colorado. The result of the landslide was filmed from a police
helicopter and posted on Youtube[2]: 5/27/2014 -
Helicopter view of Colorado 4 MILE LONG @ Fracking Operation.
1. I have attached four pictures
(printscreen) with the official information and details about
this earthquake, taken from
the above mentioned website. One can observe the position of the epicenter on
each picture.
Image 1 - satellite view[3].
Image 2 - location on the USA map[4].
Image 3 - location on the map of the
USA with neighboring[5].
Image 4 - distances to the neighboring
cities[6].
2. In
the video on Youtube[2]which
lasts 12 minutes and 6 seconds we can observe the landslide, the extent of the
incident and many other details that will be discussed in the following pages. I
made 3 files (printscreen) of this movie on Youtube with a drilling rig
damaged by the landslide from different angles, three images with the top of
the landslide (which resembles more with a collapse of the ground surface) and
2 pictures of a cluster of trees remaining upright (which strengthens the
hypothesis of a collapse at the top).
Image 5 - The platform damaged by the
landslide - 0'13''.
Image 6 - The platform damaged by the
landslide - 4'56''.
Image 7 - The platform damaged by the
landslide -11'51''.
Image 8 - Collapse of the ground
surface - the first part of the landslide - 2'51''.
Image 9 - Collapse of the ground
surface - the first part of the landslide - 8'15''.
Image 10 - Collapse of the ground
surface - the first part of the landslide- 8'37''.
Image 11 - Cluster of trees left upright
after the collapse of the ground surface - 2'56''.
Image 12 - Cluster of trees left
upright after the collapse of the ground surface - 8'21''.
3.
Using Google Earth and carefully watching the movie on Youtube, I made a
profile of the landslide (Figure 13 - color
pink). To frame it in the area, I selected a representative perimeter (Figure 14), showing the nearest town,
the lake and the Vega dam and area where the landslide occurred. I set the
boundaries of the perimeter through GPS coordinates shown in Table 1, with the sides of the
rectangle of 26.6 km and 16.6 km and an area of 441.56 km2.
After a
thorough observation of the area I
identified 108 drilling rigs listed in Table 2 with GPS coordinates, where we can see the equipment and
various activities typical to drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing.
Thus, there are drilling rigs erected on 50, 78 and 96 platforms, fracturing
operations on the platform 57, and the platform 108 (Figure 15) is the one affected by the landslide (which is seen in
the film). Figure 16 represents an
approximated longitudinal profile of the landslide.
Table 1- with the GPS coordinates
for identifying the perimeter chosen for observation and analysis and the platform
damaged by the landslide.
Objective
|
Latitude
|
Longitude
|
Height
|
Upper left corner
|
39°18'10.00" N
|
108°0'50.00" W
|
2,477 m
|
Bottom left corner
|
39°9'10.00" N
|
108°0'50.00" W
|
2,119 m
|
Upper right corner
|
39°18'10.00" N
|
107°42'20.00" W
|
2,377 m
|
Bottom right corner
|
39°9'10.00" N
|
107°42'20.00" W
|
3,043 m
|
Platform affected by the landslide = 108
|
39°12'1.95" N
|
107°51'28.32" W
|
2,286 m
|
Table 2 - with the GPS coordinates for
identifying the platforms in the analyzed perimeter.
Objective
|
Latitude
|
Longitude
|
Height
|
Platform 1
|
39°16'45.23" N
|
107°57'9.19" W
|
2,102 m
|
Platform 2
|
39°15'26.27'' N
|
107°57'33.19'' W
|
1,943 m
|
Platform 3
|
39°15'37.88'' N
|
107°57'47.77'' W
|
1,963 m
|
Platform 4
|
39°12'15.29'' N
|
107°55'51.47'' W
|
2,035 m
|
Platform 5
|
39°11'43.26'' N
|
107°55'5.63'' W
|
2,079 m
|
Platform 6
|
39°11'32.37'' N
|
107°54'39.16'' W
|
2,101 m
|
Platform 7
|
39°11'26.04'' N
|
107°54'11.96'' W
|
2,143 m
|
Platform 8
|
39°11'28.98'' N
|
107°55'49.36'' W
|
2,080 m
|
Platform 9
|
39°11'15.09'' N
|
107°55'40.36'' W
|
2,102 m
|
Platform 10
|
39°11'58.22'' N
|
107°54'32.23'' W
|
2,114 m
|
Platform 11
|
39°12'8.19'' N
|
107°54'45.41'' W
|
2,086 m
|
Platform 12
|
39°12'21.95'' N
|
107°55'2.58'' W
|
2,68 m
|
Platform 13
|
39°12'22.44'' N
|
107°54'27.76'' W
|
2,109 m
|
Platform 14
|
39°12'28.01'' N
|
107°53'40.90'' W
|
2,176 m
|
Platform 15
|
39°12'37.64'' N
|
107°53'55.62'' W
|
2,159 m
|
Platform 16
|
39°13'14.54'' N
|
107°53'25.45'' W
|
2,120 m
|
Platform 17
|
39°13'56.13'' N
|
107°53'14.90'' W
|
2,069 m
|
Platform 18
|
39°14'9.69'' N
|
107°54'33.69'' W
|
2,058 m
|
Platform 19
|
39°14'30.07'' N
|
107°54'58.69'' W
|
2,088 m
|
Platform 20
|
39°15'34.29'' N
|
107°56'6.46'' W
|
1,943 m
|
Platform 21
|
39°15'55.42'' N
|
107°53'59.64'' W
|
2,035 m
|
Platform 22
|
39°16'19.34'' N
|
107°53'16.77'' W
|
2,071 m
|
Platform 23
|
39°16'33.18'' N
|
107°53'0.71'' W
|
2,101 m
|
Platform 24
|
39°18'10.15'' N
|
107°51'4.16'' W
|
2,339 m
|
Platform 25
|
39°17'42.12'' N
|
107°50'41.70'' W
|
2,334 m
|
Platform 26
|
39°17'21.28'' N
|
107°50'46.75'' W
|
2,257 m
|
Platform 27
|
39°17'14.09'' N
|
107°51'8.55'' W
|
2,314 m
|
Platform 28
|
39°16'53.16'' N
|
107°51'13.66'' W
|
2,224 m
|
Platform 29
|
39°16'11.56'' N
|
107°52'40.76'' W
|
2,103 m
|
Platform 30
|
39°16'22.94'' N
|
107°51'20.18'' W
|
2,157 m
|
Platform 31
|
39°16'51.53'' N
|
107°50'46.40'' W
|
2,211 m
|
Platform 32
|
39°16'53.50'' N
|
107°50'46.31'' W
|
2,219 m
|
Platform 33
|
39°16'54.88'' N
|
107°50'42.07'' W
|
2,223 m
|
Platform 34
|
39°17'36.25'' N
|
107°50'13.19'' W
|
2,352 m
|
Platform 35
|
39°17'14.24'' N
|
107°50'3.64'' W
|
2,316 m
|
Platform 36
|
39°17'22.59'' N
|
107°49'44.16'' W
|
2,376 m
|
Platform 37
|
39°16'29.65'' N
|
107°50'46.66'' W
|
2,220 m
|
Platform 38
|
39°16'25.84'' N
|
107°50'5.67'' W
|
2,218 m
|
Platform 39
|
39°15'49.82'' N
|
107°50'56.00'' W
|
2,201 m
|
Platform 40
|
39°15'27.62'' N
|
107°52'11.99'' W
|
2,133 m
|
Platform 41
|
39°15'11.01'' N
|
107°58'1.90'' W
|
1,932 m
|
Platform 42
|
39°12'31.52'' N
|
108°0'14.26'' W
|
1,873 m
|
Platform 43
|
39°10'43.52'' N
|
107°58'5.93'' W
|
2,146 m
|
Platform 44
|
39°11'2.84'' N
|
107°58'6.19'' W
|
2,111 m
|
Platform 45
|
39°13'23.99'' N
|
107°59'10.51'' W
|
1,873 m
|
Platform 46
|
39°13'28.77'' N
|
107°58'37.63'' W
|
1,887 m
|
Platform 47
|
39°12'50.64'' N
|
107°58'33.09'' W
|
1,937 m
|
Platform 48
|
39°11'4.75'' N
|
107°53'13.70'' W
|
2,256 m
|
Platform 49
|
39°12'39.62'' N
|
107°52'26.13'' W
|
2,195 m
|
Platform 50 - drilling rig
|
39°12'16.67'' N
|
107°51'46.10'' W
|
2,241 m
|
Platform 51
|
39°13'51.90'' N
|
107°50'23.76'' W
|
2,354 m
|
Platform 52
|
39°14'31.22'' N
|
107°50'43.79'' W
|
2,286 m
|
Platform 53
|
39°15'53.37'' N
|
107°49'55.34'' W
|
2,177 m
|
Platform 54
|
39°16'29.90'' N
|
107°49'4.23'' W
|
2,191 m
|
Platform 55
|
39°16'33.99'' N
|
107°49'25.73'' W
|
2,188 m
|
Platform 56
|
39°16'46.00'' N
|
107°49'2.29'' W
|
2,266 m
|
Platform 57 - fracking operations
|
39°15'28.14'' N
|
107°48'50.86'' W
|
2,239 m
|
Platform 58
|
39°16'7.96'' N
|
107°49'28.13'' W
|
2,144 m
|
Platform 59
|
39°14'54.06'' N
|
107°48'31.58'' W
|
2,333 m
|
Platform 60
|
39°13'5.60'' N
|
107°46'39.78'' W
|
2,454 m
|
Platform 61
|
39°12'24.74'' N
|
107°46'2.46'' W
|
2,497 m
|
Platform 62
|
39°12'4.56'' N
|
107°45'12.20'' W
|
2,530 m
|
Platform 63
|
39°12'20.01'' N
|
107°45'17.80'' W
|
2,521 m
|
Platform 64
|
39°13'3.59'' N
|
107°45'57.99'' W
|
2,484 m
|
Platform 65
|
39°13'18.99'' N
|
107°45'55.88'' W
|
2,484 m
|
Platform 66
|
39°13'46.24'' N
|
107°45'0.28'' W
|
2,406 m
|
Platform 67
|
39°13'53.76'' N
|
107°45'38.92'' W
|
2,489 m
|
Platform 68
|
39°14'1.58'' N
|
107°45'55.74'' W
|
2,503 m
|
Platform 69
|
39°13'50.47'' N
|
107°44'24.31'' W
|
2,467 m
|
Platform 70
|
39°14'9.21'' N
|
107°44'54.91'' W
|
2,360 m
|
Platform 71
|
39°14'21.59'' N
|
107°44'28.37'' W
|
2,422 m
|
Platform 72
|
39°14'37.40'' N
|
107°45'17.33'' W
|
2,419 m
|
Platform 73
|
39°14'31.08'' N
|
107°44'4.25'' W
|
2,360 m
|
Platform 74
|
39°14'47.30'' N
|
107°44'36.73'' W
|
2,326 m
|
Platform 75
|
39°14'49.97'' N
|
107°44'51.85'' W
|
2,312 m
|
Platform 76
|
39°14'50.49'' N
|
107°44'59.77'' W
|
2,336 m
|
Platform 77
|
39°15'37.92'' N
|
107°45'55.87'' W
|
2,328 m
|
Platform 78 - drilling rig
|
39°15'37.48'' N
|
107°45'30.69'' W
|
2,289 m
|
Platform 79
|
39°15'35.48'' N
|
107°44'59.42'' W
|
2,343 m
|
Platform 80
|
39°15'30.63'' N
|
107°44'20.49'' W
|
2,282 m
|
Platform 81
|
39°15'27.01'' N
|
107°43'45.35'' W
|
2,324 m
|
Platform 82
|
39°15'59.26'' N
|
107°43'36.00'' W
|
2,330 m
|
Platform 83
|
39°12'35.90'' N
|
107°46'18.46'' W
|
2,485 m
|
Platform 84
|
39°15'50.17'' N
|
107°44'40.73'' W
|
2,285 m
|
Platform 85
|
39°15'56.81'' N
|
107°44'52.31'' W
|
2,267 m
|
Platform 86
|
39°15'54.84'' N
|
107°45'0.88'' W
|
2,278 m
|
Platform 87
|
39°16'17.72'' N
|
107°45'14.26'' W
|
2,251 m
|
Platform 88
|
39°16'25.26'' N
|
107°44'37.08'' W
|
2,246 m
|
Platform 89
|
39°16'30.99'' N
|
107°44'37.54'' W
|
2,224 m
|
Platform 90
|
39°16'54.83'' N
|
107°44'2.05'' W
|
2,264 m
|
Platform 91
|
39°16'51.79'' N
|
107°42'56.06'' W
|
2,255 m
|
Platform 92
|
39°17'9.45'' N
|
107°42'56.59'' W
|
2,311 m
|
Platform 93
|
39°17'17.16'' N
|
107°42'36.50'' W
|
2,333 m
|
Platform 94
|
39°17'28.67'' N
|
107°43'37.87'' W
|
2,291 m
|
Platform 95
|
39°17'26.35'' N
|
107°43'25.09'' W
|
2,259 m
|
Platform 96 - drilling rig
|
39°17'43.55'' N
|
107°43'9.27'' W
|
2,301 m
|
Platform 97
|
39°17'46.82'' N
|
107°43'37.54'' W
|
2,313 m
|
Platform 98
|
39°18'6.21'' N
|
107°43'19.26'' W
|
2,348 m
|
Platform 99
|
39°17'0.65'' N
|
107°45'24.67'' W
|
2,338 m
|
Platform 100
|
39°16'47.64'' N
|
107°46'1.45'' W
|
2,275 m
|
Platform 101
|
39°16'21.26'' N
|
107°46'0.38'' W
|
2,239 m
|
Platform 102
|
39°16'20.25'' N
|
107°46'4.85'' W
|
2,235 m
|
Platform 103
|
39°16'52.70'' N
|
107°46'24.41'' W
|
2,284 m
|
Platform 104
|
39°16'33.55'' N
|
107°46'55.92'' W
|
2,218 m
|
Platform 105
|
39°17'45.97'' N
|
107°49'39.43'' W
|
2,358 m
|
Platform 106
|
39°18'13.89'' N
|
107°50'33.71'' W
|
2,421 m
|
Platform 107
|
39°14'0.20'' N
|
107°57'14.10'' W
|
1,858 m
|
Platform 108 - affected by the landslide
|
39°12'1.95" N
|
107°51'28.32" W
|
2,286 m
|
Image 13 - The landslide (Google Earth).
Image 14 - The analyzed perimeter
(Google Earth).
Image 15 - The drilling platform
damaged by the landslide (Google Earth).
Image 16 - The longitudinal profile of
the landslide (Google Earth).
4.a.
After consulting several articles [7][8]it emerged that in the Colorado Plateau, which includes
the area covered above (Figure 14), the exploration and exploitation of shale
gas and hydraulic fracturing operations began from as early as 1974-1979, along
with studies on the possibility of CO2 injection into depleted and
abandoned wells.
4.b.
By analyzing images taken from a helicopter, we can observe that there is no
presence of water across the landslide. This is reinforced by the dust that is
seen on vegetation surrounding the affected area. Also, at the top you can see
a cluster of trees which are upright, which is impossible in the case of
landslides. This leads me to conclude that, at least at the top, there was a
collapse of the soil, the ground’s surface, and not a landslide, a phenomenon
caused by a possible release of CO2 from underground (possible
cracks in geological layers). This assumption can also be explained by the
appearance of a funnel present at the top of the affected area (Figure 8, 9 and 17). There is the
possibility that the phenomenon of collapse and that sliding to occur
simultaneously at the bottom of the valley after the onset of the initial
collapse.
Image 17 - an emphasis on the funnel
contour.
4.c.
Snow depth does not give indications of high hydrological levels. I do not have
data on rainfall and the hydrology of the area.
4.d.
The high density of drilling platforms in the analyzed perimeter gives rise to
suspicions regarding the natural character of this phenomenon. It should be
noted that the images provided by Google Earth are dated August 9, 2011, with
the possibility that by the time of the phenomenon presented in the study, the
reality on the ground might have withstood many changes. Also, I do not know
the depths of each driling platform, the number of vertical wells, inclined and
horizontal drilling made for each platform, the types and number of fractures
applied to each drilling, comprehensive data about the geology of this area.
4.e.
Details of topographic features (length and width of the area affected, the
slope, the difference in level between extremities, the volume of material dislocated
by the collapse and landslide) and geological features will be officially known
after the field research and surveys conducted by experts from the American
Geological Institute.
4.f.
There is a possibility of evacuating the local population[9] from Collbran because of the danger of a new
landslide, which could occur in the context of heavy rainfall.
4.g.
If we move the selected perimeter to the NNE by 20-30 km we can observe that
the density of drilling platforms increases at least 5 times.
4.h.
The seismic effects correlated with fracking are known. The earthquake in
Oklahoma[10] is the most representative case, giving rise to real
concern among the scientific community and the Media[11][12][13][14]. However, this earthquake was only the one with the
highest intensity(5.6 on the Richter scale), of a series of hundreds of earthquakes which
have been recorded in the last few years. And
this flurry of earthquakes is recorded in many parts of the world wherever
there is intensive and extensive exploitation of oil and gas. A similar case
was recorded in our country in Izvoarele, Galati County, Romania. In Groningen,
the Netherlands, where the exploitation operations started is 1959, the contraction
effect by about 35 centimeters is associated with the exploitation[15] (sinking or settling could be complementary terms). The same
phenomenon occurs in Romania, in Suplacu de Barcau, and the compaction[16] is
approximately 24 centimeters.
4.i.
A lesser known and insufficiently
studied and documented aspect is the procedure of boosting depleted oil wells
with CO2 storage while its storage in former oil fields. There is
research[17] which
state that caution is required when approaching this technique, as the results
in case of accidental release huge amount of CO2 are well known.
They are notorious for accidents caused by limnic eruptions[18] in the case of the Monoun lakes[19] August 15, 1984 and Nyos[20] of August 21, 1986 in Cameroon and the possibility of
repeating this phenomenon in the case of Lake Kivu[21] located on the border between the Republic People of Congo and Rwanda.
In
Romania the Service for Geological Storage of Carbon Dioxide was founded by
GEO. 64/2011, amended by Law 114/2013, which is expected to "lead to the
development of technical knowledge on the full range of these technologies
(capture, transport and storage of CO2)'' [22] in Demonstration Program - Gettica Project.
It
remains to be seen whether after research and studies conducted by American
geologists about this landslide in Colorado the injection of CO2
into the ground will be incriminated along side to hydraulic fracturing and.
4.j.
The news about the landslide in Colorado was reported also by large television
channels in the USA, with CNN[23], NBS[24], ABC News[25] and FOX News[26] just as some examples. To these we can add Reuters[27], YAHOO[28], National Geographic[29] and Forbes[30], The New York Times[31], USA TODAY[32], The Guardian[33] and many others.
4.k.
Though only 3 people were reported missing[34] (Clancy Nichols - 51 years old, his son
Danny Nichols 24 years old and Wes Hawkins - 46 years old) due to the landslide, a reocurrence of
this phenomenon should worry us greatly, especially due to the imposibility to
predict such a phenomenon and given the extended areas where drilling, fracking
activities and waste injection in the ground have been done.
4.l.We
most also take into account the occurrence of earthquakes in areas where such
phenomenon were not familiar at all for local populations[35] as well as the intensified seismic activity in areas
where hydraulic fracturing is being done and where the practice of injecting
waste water into abandoned or depleted wells is common, the most powerful being
that recorded in Oklahoma[36], on November 6 2011.
4.m. By using Google Map[37], [38] [one can check
each platform in Table 2, as some have
a variety of equipments or others are decommissioned, but, most importantly,
the on platforms 50, 78 and 96 (Figure
18) are drilling rigs are operational and on platform 57 (Figure 19) we can
observe fracturing activitities due to the presence of the fracturing fluid injection
pumps.
Image 18 - Drilling
rig on platform 96
Image 19 – Activities specific to fracking on platform
57
5. Final
Conclusions.
5.1.Activities
associated to fracking and CO2 injections can generate phenomena
difficult to foresee on medium and long term.
5.2.This
incident has anthropic causes.
Bibliography
14 - http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2014/05/05/oklahoma-earthquake-warning-usgs-fracking/8733665/
26 - http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/05/27/no-sign-missing-men-on-first-day-colorado-mudslide-search/
29 - http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/05/140527-colorado-mudslide-disaster-geology-science/
