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The study, published Tuesday in Seismological Research Letters, reports that fracking waste injection wells are now the leading cause of earthquakes in Texas. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves thrusting chemicals and water against shale rock to break it up and release oil or gas. The process produces large amounts of waste fluid, or brine, that is either recycled or disposed of in injection wells.
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a controversial process for extracting oil and natural gas from the ground It's spreading across the US despite there being a lot of concerns about it. A typical oil well is built straight down and pumps out all of the oil and natural gas that is deep down in the earth. But after continual use, these oil wells can start coming up dry. So fracking involves angling the drill horizontally into the rock layer and then blasting water at high pressures (this is why its called hydraulic) to release natural gas.