Projects proposed to have induced earthquakes

 

The Human-Induced Earthquake Database (HiQuake)

The Human-Induced Earthquake Database (HiQuake) is the largest and most up-to-date database of industrial projects proposed to have induced or triggered earthquakes. HiQuake lists all industrial projects claimed, on scientific grounds, to have induced earthquakes. The database does not filter, rank or discriminate on the basis of the strength of the claims.

The data are freely available to download in Microsoft Excel format for your own analysis. Depending on your browser, you may need to copy the link address to a new tab and/or enable pop ups to initiate the download.

We endeavour to keep the database up to date and accurate. If you have additional cases to add to the database, more information regarding existing entries, or corrections, please contact us.

HiQuake was last updated on the 28th December 2023.

New global physics-based database of injection-induced seismicity

A new paper and open-access database by Kivi et al. have been released providing a global physics-based database of injection-induced seismicity. The work builds on HiQuake to provide key tectonic, rock and fault properties associated with injection cases. The database is being used to revise and add to HiQuake.

 

New HiQuake papers released

The HiQuake team recently published a new paper exploring the use of ChatGPT as an alternative method to online search engines for scientific results and opinions to be automatically collated into concise summary prose. The approach was applied to the topic of seismology using a range of natural, likely induced, and debated cases of earthquakes.

The HiQuake team have also: 1) studied the performance of questionnaire schemes used to assess the likelihood of an earthquake sequence being induced by human activity, and 2) developed a generic questionnaire scheme for evaluating proposals of induced earthquakes. The associated papers have been published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America and the Journal of Seismology, respectively.

 

New database of human-induced earthquakes in China

A new paper, “Characteristics and mechanisms of human-induced earthquakes in China from the QuakeQuake database“, by Chen et al. (2023) provides an up-to-date database of human-induced earthquakes in China. The QuakeQuake database has been used to revise and add to HiQuake.

  • Fracking 32%
  • Mining 24%
  • Water reservoir impoundment 18%
  • Conventional Oil and Gas 11%
  • Geothermal 6%
  • Waste fluid disposal 4%
  • Nuclear explosions 2%
  • Research 1%
  • Unspecified Oil and Gas/Waste fluid disposal 1%
  • Groundwater extraction .8%
  • CCS .4%
  • Deep penetrating bombs .3%
  • Construction .2%
  • CBM .1%
  • Chemical explosions .1%