Could an Underwater Earthquake Cause an Oil Spill?

Yes.
Next!
Del

Yes.

Next.

Thanks for your input guys. I was hoping perhaps a geologist was lurking in our midst. Maybe something a little more specific, i.e. any known hot spots where this could occur, if so, how likely is this to happen and when, if it does how to deal with it, etc.......If I knew a yes would come so easily, I would have asked if I was handsome.

Those clowns!!!!!!

Tell me, would it really matter if the oil were spewing from the ocean floor or a mountain top?

I think you posed a legitimate question, and, after I get that beer outa the fridge, I'm gonna look into this.

Wouldn't it be a real mess if a volcano, caused by an earthquake, blows through an oil field on it's way up to the surface. Talk about a blow torch!!!

In principle, yes. However, many/most oil deposits exist under salt domes, which are long-term stable formations not normally located near fault zones. (So I have read somewhere, without being sure.)

Ok, I be abit more serious...
Earthquakes tend to happen in fault zones, so it would be very likely that previous quakes millenia ago would have released any pressure and associated oil.
There, that was more thoughtful, but no more well informed.<tee hee>
Well informed..geddit...ooooh I've coughed up a fur ball now
Del

Hmmm......at the risk of backing a cat into a corner, if oil is a "fossil" fuel, there probably wouldn't have been much of it around millenia ago, and if it is a "fossil" fuel, how do you suppose it got so concentrated in these particular pockets? Just offering up some cat food for thought.

Either you don't undersand the word millenia or you have no concept of geological timescales, or possibly both.
Del

In all likelihood, the hot spots for quake triggered oil formation leaks were released a few million years ago... Murphy has been around for all time.

I heard that the oil rig explosion that caused this big oil leak in the first place was fired upon by a North Korean Submarine. No Joke, I heard this yesterday.

Any comments on that?

Yes. A prediction? I doubt anyone here nor beyond is such a seer.

Occurred to me also as a possibility and not one with 'rocks' can only perceive that it would take a horrendous plate tectonic shift for that to happen. Probably additional volcano eruptions would also be invoked. In any event, nothing to address or to do.

Some say that there are indicators of things to come, like with animals. My cat has been acting whacky lately, an old wise one of now about 18 years. (DEL?)

My 14 year old cat has been as quiet as ever here in North Houston, but yours might be closer to the action.

Good point to contemplate. I think that any "tears" in the earth at the depths of the BP/Rig Deepwater Horizon drilling would immediately seal themselves with a zillion tons of good old mud from the floor of the seabed. Remember they have a steel pipe within a steel casing to get the oil out and prevent the hole from collasping on itself. Also, the oil is not setting there in some sort of cavern waiting for the pipe to appear and suck it all up. It is contained in formations of soil and rock. Some formations are more porous than others which would be a "loose" formation versus a "tight" formation. Some of the formations are so tight that the oil does not flow very freely and the formation has to be fractured by hydraulics, it has been said that the USSR used low yield nukes to fracture formations, to allow the oil to flow. Israel is developing a field like that in the Sinai. Some of the loose formations, particularly the early "gushers" were difficult to drill due to the formation caving in and blocking the drilling string. Thus the development and use of "drilling mud" (google spindletop oil well for more).

The oil that you see spewing out in the 24 hour per day horror show of the BP spill is under tremendous pressure from 5000 feet of water and about 10,000 feet of mud, soil and rock. Visualize your body being squeezed by a Boa Constrictor and the air being pushed from your lungs and that is roughly what you have in the spill in the Gulf of Mexico (does it really belong to Mexico and if so how much rent does the US pay for using it?).

BP has used the excuse of the depth that they are working at as being the reason that they haven't been able to stop the flow. I am sure that plays a part but their comedy of errors in attempts have left them looking like dummies. Trying to saw the pipe in two with the whole string of collasped pipe still in place was doomed to failure before the little robot took the dive. Any logger with a chainsaw could have predicted that the cutting blades would have gotten pinched. They should have used the shears first at the closest place to the BOP to relieve the strain on the pipe. Then send the saw down to make a smooth cut below the sheared/pinched off section. Another good question is why not do the shearing and cutting below the BOP and then attach cables to the BOP and winch it up and away from the now flush cut end so that a valve could be put in place? I could go own and own as we all can. Bottom line is that due to lack of planning BP has fumbled with the repairs and the situation has now become a political issue in addition to an engineering issue. I just hope that they get it plugged soon as the beaches there are/were absolutely gorgeous.

Good one, LMAO

Hey kevinm, Thanks for your post, very interesting, the thinking that all oil comes from decaying plant and animal matter, has always been troubling to me. I will have to do some further reading on the abiotic theory. The point I was hoping to make here, is that I think it is plausible for a natural event to cause this kind of leak. You have provided some very good food for thought. Thanks again.

Some books make a personal impact and stick with you. I have a background in water resource engineering technology and physical geography. I ran my own water technology company and have a keen interest in ground water microbiology and geochemistry. "The Deep Hot Biosphere" makes such an impact and made me turn my head to say "wow". Gold's book is a good place to start if you are interested. It is an easy read.

Anything can happen at any time!

But why pulling an earthquake? Here is a vulcano! Does this help with the bad dreams?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100425151143.htm

Yes. A relatively small earth quake can cause suboceanic oil reserves to be released. It happens in California all the time. Oil balls come washing up after small earthquakes, and sometimes they test them to verify they are from the local sources. Actually, I was reading about releases of asphaltene components from subsurface fractures off Santa Barbara that form what they are calling asphalt volcanoes. The new fracturing of rock that allows this to happen is caused by earthquakes. Thus even natural oil reserves are released fairly routinely in areas where their are earthquakes and large oil reserves in the subsurface. the hope is that the governemnt held the oil companies to a higher design standard to provide the pumping infraastructure to resist the earth movements to a very low probability of failure, hopefully less than 1% for sure, and require redundant shut down systems in case a less than 1% event occurs.

Thanks for your replies: Interesting stuff. Part of the reason that I posted my original question was just curiosity. I assumed the answer would be a yes and that maybe some details would be posted, which they were. The second reason for my post, was to gather some valid information to counter the inevitable cries, that mankind is destroying the planet, none of this would happen if greedy oil companies weren't drilling offshore, etc., etc. ad nauseum. Which, it did, thanks again.

The reason I wasn't more specific in my original post is because I didn't want it to turn int an instant argument about whether or not we should be drilling off shore. In a way it's good that we are. If it were illegal everywhere, and a natural occurrence were to happen i.e earthquake, that released a lot of oil, there would be no skimmers, centrifuges, barriers, etc. to do anything about it until it reached shore.