Southern Colorado experienced two earthquakes this week around the Trinidad area, a region where some studies claimed to have linked the seismic activity to oil and gas wastewater injection wells.
The Monday morning earthquakes were only five minutes and seven miles apart, reported the U.S. Geological Survey.
The first measured 3.8 magnitude near the small town of El Moro which is in Las Animas County and close to the border of Colorado and New Mexico.
The Geological Survey recorded the second north of El Moro near the town of Hoehne. It was stronger and measured 4.3 magnitude.
No injuries were reported and the earthquakes generated weak to light shaking. Over the past decade, more than 600 earthquakes have been recorded within 80 miles of the city of Trinidad.
Just as Oklahoma studied its spurt of earthquakes over the past several years and linked them to deep injection wells, Colorado did the same. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission took action 3 years ago and adopted its first-ever rules to evaluate the risk of induced seismicity as part of an overhaul of drilling regulations reported Colorado Newsline in March of this year.