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Tonight on News 5: Southern Colorado earthquakes

Posted at 8:05 AM, May 15, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-15 10:05:24-04

In southern Colorado, scientists are researching if humans are the cause of recent earthquakes.

The Raton Basin in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico has been a hotbed of seismic activity over the past 20 years.

This timeline of activity is aligned with the start of coal bed methane extraction in the area.

As part of that process, waste water is returned back under ground. Researchers are now saying that the water injection is causing earthquakes in and around Trinidad.

The largest of these earthquakes was a 5.3 magnitude quake recorded in 2011.

In a story you will only see on News 5, Zach Thaxton will talk with the scientists looking into induced earthquakes, and the people in Las Animas County whose livelihoods depend on the mining activity.

You can catch his whole story tonight on News 5 at 10 p.m.