Thomas,

I can only offer my opinion.  Yes, I believe these should be called 
earthquakes.  The energy being released even in quite a small quake 
is much larger than the energy put into the ground by the pressure 
and volume of the hydraulic fracturing fluid.  Man-made activities 
would appear to just be triggering the release of strain energy which 
is already present.  They are earthquakes which are simply happening 
sooner (and smaller?) than they would have if left alone.

Just my two cents.

Brett

At 11:53 AM 12/10/2012, you wrote:
>With the holidays and all, this is not the best time of year to 
>bring this up but maybe somebody who knows is listening. ...so here 
>goes. The basic question is when is an earthquake an earthquake. I 
>have been around long enough that I recognize/ignore mine blasting. 
>And should I
>also ignore fracking? Well water removal? Injection well activity? 
>What about this 
>http://theadThomavocate.com/home/4538683-125/assumption-sinkhole-burps-vegetation-hydrocarbons? 
>I believe that earthquakes are defined as the reduction of stress 
>along breaks/faults in the crust. Isn't that what is happening in 
>almost all of these cases? Does it really matter than man caused 
>these? Is it the size? Isn't the activity  just as scientifically 
>important as truly "real" minor earthquakes like those along the New 
>Madrid and San Andes fault?



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