Seismic activity is no longer dependent on natural causes. Human activity is playing a role as well. The US Geological Survey recently mapped all the places that are most likely to be damaged by human-induced earthquakes in 2016. This is the first time the USGS has accounted for the quakes we are causing. For the most part, human-induced earthquakes are caused by the injection of wastewater deep beneath the Earth’s surface.
It typically comes from oil and gas mining sites. Fracking — or the process of using high-pressured water to release oil and natural from rocks — isn’t causing most of the induced earthquakes, according to the USGS. The states at the most risk for potentially disastrous human-induced quakes (from highest to lowest risk) are: FULL REPORT
