USGS to Release First-Ever Map of Induced Earthquakes

The U.S. Geological Survey will be out this week with a report and its first-ever maps showing potential ground-shaking hazards from human-induced and natural earthquakes.

It no doubt will include the induced earthquakes that have produced something of a crisis in Oklahoma state government and how to control the injection wells that are suspected of causing them.

The USGS scientists will release the maps Monday. In the past, the USGS maps only identified natural earthquake hazards. The government says the new maps will allow government officials, including those at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to make more informed decisions as well as emergency response personnel to assess vulnerability and provide safety information to those who are in potential danger. Engineers will also be able to use the maps to evaluate earthquake safety of buildings, bridges, pipelines and other important structures.

A telephone press conference will be held Monday afternoon featuring: Mark Petersen, Chief of the National Seismic Hazard Mapping Project at USGS; Michael Blanpied, Associate Coordinator of the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program; and Justin Rubinstein, Deputy Chief of the Induced Seismicity Project at the USGS.