Induced earthquakes are earthquakes caused by human activity.
In Switzerland, man-made quakes occur mainly in connection with geothermal energy projects. In 2006, an earthquake with a magnitude of 3.4 was triggered in Basel by water being injected at high pressure into the ground. A 3.5 magnitude earthquake was also triggered near St. Gallen in 2013.
But earthquakes are also triggered when the subsoil is breached for other reasons, such as when injecting CO2 or wastewater, during conventional and non-conventional extraction of crude oil and natural gas through fracking, or in mining and tunnelling. Furthermore, man-made alterations to the earth’s surface can also trigger earthquakes, for example when filling reservoirs with water for the first time.
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Explore the causes of man-made earthquakes by clicking on the black circles:
