Chevron Mining Causing Quake in Mexican Gulf?

Can Earthquakes Be Produced Away From A Tectonic Plate?

from JoeUser Forums
Early September, Americans were greeted by news that caused some relief – Oil find in the Gulf of Mexico, some transportable distance from Louisiana.
Link With the choking prices of gas going ever upwards, and after hearing of limited oil supply from the Alaskan pipeline due to leaks in Prudhoe Bay that would need repair of the oil pipes, the news was certainly a welcome relief.

Then came Sunday’s(Sept. 10,2006,) quake, a magnitude 6, quite near the area of the Mexican Gulf oil find, which was equidistant from New Orleans, Louisiana and St. Petersburg, Fl.

There were just some disturbing facts about this quake according to the St. Petersburg Times :

(1) It was far from the nearest tectonic plate boundary (North American Plate – crossing
Guatemala, Jamaica, Haiti and Puerto Rico) where earthquakes are expected to occur.

(2) The quake,although causing no major damages were reported, it was felt “throughout
the Tampa Bay region, in parts of Alabama, as far away as Kentucky, the Carolinas
and the North Georgia mountains”, the report further stated. The quake magnitude (6)
is , according to the same report, just 32X less than the next magnitude (7) to
cause a tsunami.

I’m no geologist / geophysicist / seismologist nor whatever close to comment authoritatively on how the quake occurred . As an ordinary observer, usually in the crosspaths of hurricanes, I find myself now worrying about another natural disaster, which was never known to occur in our area. At least, with Alaskans, British Petroleum(BP) had the decency to own up to an environmental damage and announced
plans for repair even if it meant a slump in their business. If ever this unusual quake, near the Chevron oil find does prove to be of oil-rigging rather than tectonic origin, will Chevron treat us coastal inhabitants with the same respect.. ?

As always, the truth lies out there… This time, it’s several hundred miles on the sea floor of the Gulf of Mexico. But why worry? We’ve got oil. Or better still, they’ve got oil, now we can pay for it.
1,936 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
I felt it here in Plant city.

Just 32 times less? Do you have any idea of the difference between a magnitude 6 and 7 quake? 32 times is a lot.

And it's simply not likely that any drilling could cause such a quake, especially away from a tectonic plate.

Here is what the real experts have to say (From the Hearld Tribune Article):

The epicenter is an unusual location for earthquake activity, but scientists recorded a magnitude 5.2 temblor in roughly the same location on Feb. 10.

"Technically, it's not Florida, it's out in the Gulf of Mexico," said Don Blakeman, an earthquake analyst with the National Earthquake Information Center. "This kind of occurrence is unusual in that spot, especially for an earthquake of this size."

The quake was unusual because it was not centered on a known fault line. The "midplate" earthquake, deep under the Gulf, was probably the result of stresses generated by the interaction of distant tectonic plates in the earth's crust.

Albert Hine, professor of marine science at the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science, said such a midplate quake can occur at old fractures in the Earth's crust.

"It's probably a reaction of an ancient fault associated with the formation of the Gulf of Mexico," Hine said.

The inland sea was formed just as the Atlantic sea floor continues to form, by spreading apart two plates in mid-ocean.

The Gulf zone probably quit being active millions of years ago, but that doesn't preclude an earthquake from happening there, Hines said.

"If there is weakness there, it could cause a seismic event," he said.


While midplate quakes are more rare, they do happen. Drilling in an area does not in any way destabilize the Earth's crust nearly enough to be able to cause a magnitude 6 earthquake.

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Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
The largest quake ever recorded in the contiguous 48 states was the New Madrid quake in southern Illinois, about as far from a tectonic plate border as you can get. I think it was more likely a coincidence. The idea that a small shaft hole would be the "last straw" seems unlikely.
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Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
Drilling in an area does not in any way destabilize the Earth's crust nearly enough to be able to cause a magnitude 6 earthquake.


Drilling into the earth's crust is less than a pin prick in the grand scheme of things. Do you have 'peoplequakes' everytime you get a paper cut?
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
"While midplate quakes are more rare, they do happen" - MasonM

Thank you for the helpful input. It just seems disturbing, being near where we live.
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
"I think it was more likely a coincidence. The idea that a small shaft hole would be the "last straw" seems unlikely." -Daiwa

Hopefully, it's not a harbringer of more or larger magnitude quakes then, if it's tectonic.
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
"Do you have 'peoplequakes' everytime you get a paper cut?" - Dr. Guy

For want of a better term, maybe "peoplequakes" was all it was. Around here, preparing for hurricanes has become some sort of a routine drill. But, eathquakes, on top of that.... Well, the conjecture was a given owing to the timing of events and to the fact that us scairdy cats here look to something they can solve or prevent. (Do they use blasting in undersea oil-rigging ? I dunno) Otherwise, it's just a position of helplessness that's disturbing.
Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top
Do they use blasting in undersea oil-rigging

No, they use large drilling rigs similar to what you used to drill water wells on people's property, just on a larger scale.

The simple fact is that quakes can happen anywhere in the world at any time. Some areas are simply more prone to them than others due to being on an active fault line.

I delivered a generator in NC a while back that was mounted on springs so as to withstand a quake. It was to a school being built on a known fault line that hasn't been active but they didn't want to take chances.