What's shaking in Braxton County these days?

After four quakes rattled the county in April, followed by two more in May, (local newspaper publisher) Given received a letter to the editor from Marshall University geology professor Ronald Martino in June, addressing the topic of local earthquakes.

"I realize there has been some anxiety over the recent earthquakes in Braxton County," he wrote. "It is quite possible that these earthquakes are the result of fluid injection. Drilling in the Marcellus Shale for natural gas in Northern West Virginia has involved hydrofracking of horizontal wells, which has produced large amounts of wastewater. The disposal of this water, as well as brine that is produced from oil and gas wells, is injected back into the earth at a depth of up to several thousand feet."

Martino added that geologists have known for a half-century that "fluid injection along locked faults can trigger small to moderate earthquakes." The increase in fluid pressure, he wrote, essentially lubricated "the frictional resistance to movement along the fault zone, allowing the fault to slip more readily."