Pumping Water for Crops May Trigger Earthquakes in Central California
Scientists have found a correlation between California's rise in earthquakes and pumping water for crops. Studies have shown that nearby mountains have been rising at a rate between 1 and 3 millimeters per year, which over 150 years, equates to a large increase in mountain height. Scientists say that it is because groundwater weighs such a significant amount that when it is pumped out of the Earth's crust, it results in such a weight loss that it begins to shift and move. It is due to this weight loss that triggers the earthquakes that have been plaguing California. Scientists have also found that earthquakes occur most in dry months rather than in wet months. This is because when it rains during the wet months, the rain acts just as the groundwater would, by keeping the fault together. However, when it becomes dry, and the water disappears, just as pumping does, it no longer keeps the fault together, causing more earthquakes. This is a huge problem because the water that is being pumped is used for watering crops with and for clean drinking water. If the water is no longer pumped than one of the nation's largest producer of food may no longer be just that.
Extended Activity Question: What do you think would be a good solution to possibly solving the water-earthquake issue currently being debated in California? Do you think there is any way in which the ground water does not need to be pumped and can stay there to act as a weight to hold the fault together?
I don't believe there is a way to possibly solve this crysis other than filling with cement and draining the water or not touching it at all. In other words they could pump the water from another place if the earth quakes are really bad and if not begin producing other goods that don't require well water.
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