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Mark Fiore is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist and animator whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Examiner, and dozens of other publications. He is an active member of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists, and has a website featuring his work.
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Major earthquakes thousands of miles away can trigger reflex quakes in areas where fluids have been injected into the ground from fracking and other industrial operations, according to a study published in the journal Science on Thursday.
Previous studies, covered in a recent Mother Jones feature from Michael Behar, have shown that injecting fluids into the ground can increase the seismicity of a region. This latest study shows that earthquakes can tip off smaller quakes in far-away areas where fluid has been pumped underground.
The scientists looked at three big quakes: the Tohuku-oki earthquake in Japan in 2011 (magnitude 9), the Maule in Chile in 201 (an 8.8 magnitude), and the Sumatra in Indonesia in 2012 (an 8.6). They found that, as much as 20 months later, those major quakes triggered smaller ones in places in the Midwestern US where fluids have been pumped underground for energy extraction.
“The fluids kind of act as a pressurized cushion,” lead author Nicholas van der Elst of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University explained to Mother Jones. “They make it easier for the fault to slide.”
The finding is not entirely surprising, said van der Elst. Scientists have known for a long time that areas with naturally high subsurface fluid pressures—places like Yellowstone, for example—can see an uptick in seismic activity after a major earthquake even very far away. But this is the first time they’ve found a link between remote quakes and seismic activity in places where human activity has increased the fluid pressure via underground injections.
“It happens in places where fluid pressures are naturally high, so we’re not so surprised it happens in places where fluid pressures are artificially high,” he said.
The study looked specifically at Prague, Oklahoma, which features prominently in Behar’s piece. The study links the increased tremors in Prague, which has a number of injection wells nearby, to Chile’s February 27, 2010, quake. The study also found that big quakes in Japan and Indonesia triggered quakes in areas of western Texas and southern Colorado with many injection wells. The study is “additional evidence that fluids really are driving the increase in earthquakes at these sites,” said van der Elst.
Drillers inject high-pressure fluids into a hydraulic fracturing well, making slight fissures in the shale that release natural gas. The wastewater that flows back up with the gas is then transported to disposal wells, where it is injected deep into porous rock. Scientists now believe that the pressure and lubrication of that wastewater can cause faults to slip and unleash an earthquake.
Illustration: Leanne Kroll. Animation: Brett Brownell
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Six centuries of climate change as conveyed by violin. Original article: Dot Earth Blog: Fiddling While the World Warms ; ;Related ArticlesFiddling While the World WarmsDot Earth Blog: The Long Chain of Responsibility Behind an Oily and Deadly Train WreckMore Signs of ‘Peak Us’ in New Study of ‘Peak Oil Demand’ ;
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Mother Jones
This story first appeared on the Guardian website.
Air pollution causes people in northern China to live an average of five and a half years shorter than their southern counterparts, according to a study released on Monday that claims to show in unprecedented detail the link between air pollution and life expectancy.
High levels of air pollution in northern China—much of it caused by an overreliance on burning coal for heat—will cause 500 million people to lose an aggregate 2.5 billion years from their lives, the authors predict in the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The geographic disparity can be traced back to China’s Huai River policy, which, since it was implemented between 1950 and 1980, has granted free wintertime heating to people living north of the Huai River, a widely acknowledged dividing line between northern and southern China. Much of that heating comes from the combustion of coal, significantly impacting the region’s air quality.
“Using data covering an unusually long timespan—from 1981 through 2000—the researchers found that air pollution…was about 55% higher north of the river than south of it,” the MIT Energy Initiative said in a statement.
“Linking the Chinese pollution data to mortality statistics from 1991 to 2000, the researchers found a sharp difference in mortality rates on either side of the border formed by the Huai River. They also found the variation to be attributable to cardiorespiratory illness, and not to other causes of death.”
The researchers, based in Israel, Beijing, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, gauged the region’s air quality according to the established metric of total suspended particulates (TSP), representing the concentration of certain airborne particles per cubic meter of air.
The study concluded that long-term exposure to air containing 100 micrograms of TSP per cubic meter “is associated with a reduction in life expectancy at birth of about 3.0 years.”
Air pollution has been the subject of widespread public outrage in China since January, when Beijing’s air quality index (AQI)—a similar metric to TSP—regularly exceeded 500, the scale’s maximum reading, for weeks on end. On January 12, Beijing’s AQI hit a record 755, 30 times higher than levels deemed safe by the World Health Organization.
Past studies have established a link between air pollution and reduced life expectancy. One recent large-scale study concluded that air pollution contributed to 1.2 million premature deaths in China in 2010.
Yet according to Michael Greenstone, an economics professor at MIT and one of the study’s authors, this study is the first to precisely quantify their relationship. “Demonstrating that people die a bit earlier because of pollution is interesting and helps establish that pollution is bad,” he said. “But the most important question, the next question that needed to be answered, is what’s the loss of life expectancy? How much should society be willing to pay to avoid high levels of pollution? This study was structured so we could answer that question.”
China’s central authorities are keenly aware that environmental degradation has become one of the country’s leading causes of social unrest. Last month, China’s cabinet revealed 10 new measures intended to combat air pollution, and state media reported that Chinese courts can now impose the death penalty on serious polluters.
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China’s Coal Reliance Reduces Life Expectancy by 5.5 Years, Study Says
Mother Jones
The House and Senate intelligence committees are reportedly holding up the Obama administration’s recently announced plan to send arms and military hardware to rebels at war with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. The main—and obvious—reason? Fear of weapons falling into the hands of unfriendly Islamist militants.
Reuters has the story:
None of the military aid that the United States announced weeks ago has arrived in Syria, according to an official from an Arab country and Syrian opposition sources.
Democrats and Republicans on the committees worry that weapons could reach factions like the Nusra Front which is one of the most effective rebel groups but has also been labeled by the United States as a front for al Qaeda in Iraq…Funding that the administration advised the Congressional committees it wanted to use to pay for arms deliveries to Assad’s opponents has been temporarily frozen, the sources said…Anti-Assad groups have been calling for more advanced weaponry since the government launched a new offensive in central Syria with the help of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah…Over the weekend, the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood said it felt “abandoned and disappointed” that the United States and Europe had failed to deliver rebels promised military support.
According to national security sources, the committee members want to learn more about the administration’s overall policy and arms-delivery plan before they decide on unfreezing funding. The State Department and Senate Intelligence Committee have not responded to Mother Jones‘ requests for comment, and the House Intelligence Committee had no immediate comment on the story.
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Report: Congressional Intel Committees Delay Aid to Syrian Rebels
Mother Jones
Before dawn on Monday morning, the Egyptian army opened fire on a crowd of protesters gathered outside the Republican Guard building in Cairo where ousted President Mohamed Morsi may be being held, leaving at least 51 protesters and three soldiers dead. The clash—the deadliest incident since the 2011 revolution that toppled Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak—came as the army moved to clear the days-old sit-in protesting the removal of Morsi last Wednesday. The army has claimed that they were fired upon first; protesters say the army opened fire without cause, just after morning prayers.
The clash left more than 300 wounded and lasted more than three hours, with protesters hurling stones and Molotov cocktails as the military returned fire. Many of the wounded were brought to a field hospital near the Rabaa al-Adaweya Mosque, the site of another pro-Morsi sit-in where more protests reportedly were planned for later Monday. Outside of the emergency wards that have handled the wounded, dozens have lined up to donate blood.
Here are photos from the aftermath of the violence:
Wissam Nassar/ZumaPress
Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood stand next to the bodies of fellow protesters killed in clashes with Republican Guards forces, at a hospital morgue in Cairo.
Ahmed Asad/ZumaPress
An Egyptian doctor attends to a man who was killed after clashes near Republication Guard headquarters around the Raba El-Adwyia Mosque Square in the Nasr City suburb of Cairo. The Muslim Brotherhood says its members were staging a pro-Morsi sit-in at the barracks, where he is believed to be in detention, when they were fired on. But the army said a ”terrorist group” had tried to storm the barracks.
Ahmed Asad/ZumaPress
An Egyptian doctor holds bullet shell casings after clashes near Republication Guard headquarters around the Raba El-Adwyia Mosque Square in the Nasr City suburb of Cairo.
Wissam Nassar/ZumaPress
Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood stand next to the bodies of fellow protesters killed in clashes with Republican Guards forces, at a hospital morgue in Cairo.
Amina Ismail
A man checks the list of the dead and injured posted at a hospital treating those wounded in Monday’s clashes between Morsi supporters and the Egyptian Army.
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Egypt in Turmoil: Images of Bloodshed After Army Fires on Pro-Morsi Protesters
Widespread coal use in the north has led in recent decades to an average decrease in life span of more than five years, research indicates. View original post here: Pollution Leads to Drop in Life Span in Northern China, Study Finds Related Articles Theodore Reed, Who Lifted National Zoo’s Profile, Dies at 90 In Europe, Greener Transit on Existing Infrastructure Theodore Reed, 90, Dies; Lifted National Zoo’s Profile
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Pollution Leads to Drop in Life Span in Northern China, Study Finds
The high-profile group still euthanizes most of the animals at its shelter in Virginia, even as a “no-kill” movement that promotes adoption grows rapidly. Read article here: PETA Finds Itself on Receiving End of Others’ Anger ; ;Related ArticlesAt Anchor Off Lithuania, Its Own Energy SupplyTelevision Review: Josh Fox’s ‘Gasland Part II’ Is to Be Shown on HBONews Analysis: Obama’s Remarks Offer Hope to Opponents of Oil Pipeline ;
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In a rich Long Island summer resort, businesses blast the A/C with doors wide. See original article: Dot Earth Blog: 90 Degrees + A.C. + Open Doors = Hamptons Energy Policy? Related Articles 90 Degrees + A.C. + Open Doors = Hamptons Energy Policy? Dot Earth Blog: A Song for the Fallen on Independence Day A Song for the Fallen on Independence Day
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Dot Earth Blog: 90 Degrees + A.C. + Open Doors = Hamptons Energy Policy?
With a high-tech ship anchored offshore, the country is hoping to end its dependence on Gazprom for its energy needs. More: At Anchor Off Lithuania, Its Own Energy Supply Related Articles Lithuania Aims for Energy Independence After Failed Attempt in April, Europe Approves Emissions Trading System Hans Hass, Early Undersea Explorer, Dies at 94
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