Loss of Groundwater linked to Earthquake in Spain, lessons for India?

The analysis of the 5.1 richter earthquake in historic Murcia town of Lorca in southeast Spain last year has brought up an interesting finding, that could prove disastrous to India as well.  Scientists now believe that it wasn’t created by natural reasons, but due to man-made stress on the earth’s crust.

Now, scientists say they have evidence that the disaster was not caused by nature, but can be attributed to a controversial technique to suck water out of the ground to feed domestic supplies.  It is believed the loss of water in the ground surrounding Lorca caused stress changes in the Earth’s crust along a major faultline. The disturbance was enough to trigger a rupture in the rock, leading to the earthquake.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, highlight the extent to which human activity can influence seismic shocks.

This area has seen a drop of 250 mtrs in the ground water level since the 1960s.  On examination, the fault patterns correlated with stresses due to loss of groundwater.

India also has been losing groundwater in a big way across all regions.  Specially in the North, where the fault lines are already there.

Many studies in the past have related earthquakes to the Oil & Gas extraction as well, specifically when using Fracking technique.