Berkeley Earthquake Expert Links Fracking To Quakes On The 'Tectonic Timebomb'
The front of an apartment building in the Marina District in San Francisco is ripped off 21 October 1989. (JONATHAN NOUROK/AFP/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — As the Bay Area marked the 25th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake on Friday, there was no shortage of reminders of the power of Mother Nature and the promise of other big quakes to come.
But along with trying to predict Mother Nature's timing of quakes, researchers are also looking into how hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, can impact geological events.
KCBS In Depth cohosts Jane McMillan and Ed Cavagnaro spoke with Dr. Richard Allen, director of the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, who is working on an earthquake warning system.
Allen told KCBS that a great earthquake is imminent in an area that's been referred to as a "tectonic timebomb" and that danger lies in how close the epicenter is to populated areas and pointed to the Loma Prieta as an example.
"That earthquake was just north of Santa Cruz. That means it was 60 miles south of San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley and yet 80 percent of the fatalities were up in San Francisco and Oakland. I don't think there's any question we should expect more damage if we have a similar size earthquake—about a magnitude 7.0 earthquake—on the Hayward Fault or the San Andreas Fault," he said.
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