From Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin (www.beg.utexas.edu).
For more information, please contact the author.

Bureau Seminar, January 22, 2010

The 2008-2009 earthquakes near Dallas-Fort Worth and Cleburne, Texas

Link to streaming video: available 01.22.2010 at 8:25am

Dr. Cliff Frohlich
Institute for Geophysics

On Halloween Day 2008 and again in May 2009, residents of Dallas-Fort Worth felt several small earthquakes (largest M3.3); then in June 2009, a similar series of quakes struck Cleburne, TX, about 65 km southwest of Dallas.
News stories covering these events focused on speculation that 'drilling' activity in the Barnett Shale might have caused them, and raised citizens' fears that they were precursors to larger, damaging earthquakes.

Over the past 15 months a team of scientists from BEG, UTIG, and Southern Methodist University have been analyzing these earthquakes. My presentation will review this analysis, weigh in on the speculations about 'drilling' and the possibility of larger quakes, and discuss broader implications for Texas citizens and energy producers.