The presence of water in rocks attenuates the force of induced earthquakes

The first deep geothermal energy trials in Switzerland have caused small local earthquakes. The fault lay with pressurized water injected into faults in the underground rock. However, researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the Ecole Normale de Paris have just made a totally counter-intuitive discovery in this field. The greater the pressure of the water already present in the ground, the more limited the intensity of the earthquake.