Most people have the impression that quakes that can be felt are caused by fracking but generally they are not. Fracking is performed by injecting a sand-water mixture at very high pressure for a short period of time into the oil and gas formation. The contaminated water is pumped out as the well is developed and the contaminated wastewater from the thousands of individual fracking operations is hauled to disposal well sites and pumped into a deep formation. The near continuous pressure pumping into deep disposal wells is what causes most of the earthquakes. In Colorado, the fracking related quakes are located at wastewater injection well sites in Trinidad, Greeley, Paradox Valley, Rangely and the former Rocky Mountain Arsenal wells operated in the 60's. The Arsenal wells were shut down after a series of damaging Magnitude 5 earthquakes.
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