Earthquakes have increased over the past few years in the state of Ohio, according to entries from an Ohio Earthquake database. There were 213 earthquakes reported in Ohio in 2025 and 129 earthquakes reported in 2024. As of Feb. 9, there were nine so far for the new year.
Earthquakes are caused by a sudden slip on a fault, in which the edges of tectonic plates get stuck due to the friction, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Michael Brudzinski, professor of geology and environmental earth science at Miami University, works with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to research the relationship between seismic activity in Ohio and the extraction of oil and gas from the subsurface.
Brudzinski said the new technology to quickly extract oil and gas from older and less permeable rock is called hydraulic fracking.
“The whole purpose of it is to drill down into those rocks and inject fluid that will crack open the rock, that's the fracturing part, and hydraulic just means we're pumping fluid to hydraulically open up cracks in the rock,” Brudzinski said. “Then, when you pull the water back out, it brings oil and gas with the water.”
Through his research, Brudzinski found that due to fluid from hydraulic fracking unknowingly being pumped into fault zones, the technology creates a higher risk for earthquakes.
The U.S. Geological Survey states tremors can be caused by human activity, including surface or underground mining, injection of fluids into underground formations, impoundment of reservoirs and withdrawal of fluids or gas from subsurface and waste water disposal in deep wells.
“While most induced earthquakes are small and present little hazard, larger and potentially damaging manmade earthquakes have occurred in the past,” the U.S Geological Survey states.
Ohio Department of Natural Resources Press Secretary Karina Cheung wrote in an email, the seismic activity in Southeast Ohio is induced. In contrast to natural tectonic events, induced activity stops after extraction activities end, rather than continuing aftershock.
“Earthquakes cannot be predicted,“ Cheung wrote in an email. "The increase in detection of earthquakes, often at lower magnitudes, can be attributed to the expansion of seismic networks in Ohio over the past decade."
Cheung concluded although seismic activity has increased, damage to the environment has and will continue to be minimal due to the shallow nature of the events.
“Since 2011, the development of the Utica Shale in Southeast Ohio has resulted in induced seismicity; however, it is still rare, with magnitudes infrequently reaching felt levels,” ODNR said.
The Utica Shale stretches under Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York, Quebec and other parts of eastern North America. Eastern Ohio drills into the Utica Shale for natural resources.
The Utica Shale contains about 38 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, about 940 million barrels of oil and 208 million barrels of natural gas liquids.
ODNR also attributes seismic activity in Ohio to the Appalachian Mountains and the terminus of the Grenville orogeny. The latter refers to an ancient mountain-building event, which created deep metamorphic rocks, now exposed in the Canadian shield and below the Appalachian mountains.
Brudzinski highlights environments similar to Athens, low-lying areas close to mountains, which allow for easier drilling of oil and gas. Throughout the formation of the Utica Shale, it has gone under Grenville and other mountain formations that create dormant faults under Eastern Ohio.
“The eastern half of the state is underlain by many faults, some of which (but not all) have been mapped. As earthquakes happen in areas with previously unmapped faults, we get more detailed insights into location, size and orientation of the faults,” Cheung wrote in an email.
Two ODNR divisions are researching seismic activity in multiple ways. The Ohio Geological Survey relies on its operation of a 37-station seismic network that expands throughout the state, along with efforts from Miami University to conduct research regarding seismic activity.
“The division also operates a highly sensitive seismic network that assists to develop understanding of seismic hazards in Ohio, regulates oil and gas operations and protects Ohioans,” Cheung wrote in an email.
Brudzinski mentioned the many nuances regarding the regulation of oil and gas operations, including economic benefits, increased seismic activity and carbon dioxide impacts.
“Overall, (seismic activity) is a fluctuating event,” Brudzinski said. “As activity fluctuates ... we try to best deduce what is the right strategy to keep it on the down low.”
