The common cause of strong earthquakes in California in the early 20th century

Oil and gas exploitation may have contributed to four of the five most powerful earthquakes in the Los Angeles basin, southern California in the US during the early 20th century oil boom. .

This is the result of a scientific study published in the Journal of the American Geological Society on October 31.

To draw this conclusion, scientists have analyzed the geological studies, the oil industry data, the statistics of government agencies as well as the articles at that time.

According to scientists, the earthquakes in Inglewood in 1920, in Whittier in 1929, Santa Monica in 1930 and Long Beach in 1933 may have something in common in relation to oil production and exploitation. of human.

Oil pump at Bakken Shale oil extraction facility near Williston, North Dakota, USA on September 6. (Source: AFP / VNA).

Although there is no direct cause of the earthquake, experts say oil and gas production activities began shortly before the earthquake in these areas.

The strongest earthquake of the five incidents occurred in Long Beach, near Los Angeles, with intensity of 6.4 on the Richter scale, killing 120 people and causing $ 50 million in damage.

Previously published studies concluded that no earthquakes caused by human factors occurred in these areas of the state of California after 1935 when oil and gas production declined.

However, scientists emphasize that these California earthquakes should not be compared to today's earthquakes in Oklahoma and Texas, the two most populous states affected by human-induced earthquakes. out, the capital given may be due to geological fault activity .

In 2015, at Oklahoma, there were nearly 1,000 earthquakes with a magnitude of at least 3 on the Richter scale, increasing too strong compared to the average frequency of 2 games per year in this state between 1978 and 2008.

Last September recorded the strongest earthquake in this state history with magnitude 5.8 Richter.