Fracking could lead to an 'earthquake domino effect'

Fracking could cause powerful earthquakes capable of destroying buildings as the process of extracting gas weakens fault lines deep under ground, scientists have claimed.

American geologists said that a domino effect of quakes could be caused by intense pressure on fault lines created by hydraulic fracturing, combined with seismic activity thousands of miles away.

Columbia University scientists maintain that powerful earthquakes thousands of miles

Fracking could cause powerful earthquakes capable of destroying buildings as the process of extracting gas weakens fault lines deep under ground

away can trigger swarms of minor quakes near waste water injection wells like those used for in oil and gas recovery.

They say a recent surge in U.S. oil and gas production using vast amounts of water to crack open rocks and release natural shale gas has been linked to an increase in small to moderate induced earthquakes in five states.

Heather Savage, coauthor of the study warned that the swarm of quakes 'could indicate that faults are becoming critically stressed and might soon host a larger earthquake'.

The seismologists believe that long distance triggering is most likely where waste water wells have been operating for decades and where there is little history of earthquake activity.