Society for Science & the Public, which publishes Science News, uses cookies to personalize your experience and improve our services. For more information on how we use cookies on our websites, visit our Cookie Policy.
Feature Earth

Pumping carbon dioxide deep underground may trigger earthquakes

The potential is there, but tests so far have shown only imperceptible rumbles

A corn processing plant in Illinois

CARBON QUAKES  Injecting CO2 deep underground offers a promising way to curb global warming, but the extra pressure may cause faults to slip or fractures to release the buried carbon dioxide.

Archer Daniels Midland

By Charles Petit

This article is only available to Science News subscribers.

Subscribers, enter your e-mail address to access our archives.

Not a subscriber?

Science News is a nonprofit.

Support us by subscribing now.

More Stories from Science News on Earth

  1. Monsoon season in China
    Earth

    Geology, not CO2, controlled monsoon intensity in Asia’s ancient past

    By Carolyn Gramling
  2. Artisans carving rosewood
    Ecosystems

    Can forensics help keep endangered rosewood off the black market?

    By Edward Carver
  3. Geyserville
    Tech

    Here’s what it will take to adapt the power grid to higher wildfire risks

    By Maria Temming
  4. Climate

    A new estimate triples the number of people in the path of rising seas

    By Sofie Bates
  5. Earth

    Powerful storms may be causing offshore ‘stormquakes’

    By Carolyn Gramling
  6. humpback whale bubble net
    Animals

    Humpback whales use their flippers and bubble ‘nets’ to catch fish

    By Sofie Bates
  7. A map of Gondwanaland
    Earth

    50 years ago, an Antarctic fossil pointed to Gondwanaland’s existence

    By Maria Temming
  8. Ganges River
    Earth

    Too much groundwater pumping is draining many of the world’s rivers

    By Jonathan Lambert

From the Nature Index

Paid Content