Geothermal Geologist Found Not Guilt of Causing Earthquakes in Switzerland

A court in Switzerland acquitted geologist Markus Haering in a case accusing him of causing earthquakes in Basel. The case involved a concept known as deep geothermal energy.

The world of energy production may sound very dry, but it can actually be ripe with intrigue. Most of this is based on theories about wars being started over energy resources, conspiracies of evil corporate executives bribing locals and so on. Every so often, however, it just gets really strange. This rather humorous trial of Markus Haering represents one such case.


As a geologist, Markus Haering was intimately familiar with geothermal energy. Geothermal energy is, of course, the tapping of hot, pressurized water deep underground. The problem with this platform is the water deposits are only found in some fairly limited areas and rarely near cities that need the energy. And the Haering got an interesting idea…

Markus Haering proposed to make geothermal energy available to all. How would he do it? Simple. He would drill wells deep into the earth where temperatures were hot enough to cause water to boil and pressurize. He would then inject cold water deep into these wells and…walla!...he’d have geothermal energy.

Unfortunately, two things happened that resulted in a mess. First, Haering talked the City of Basel into letting him try the plan. Second, he clearly did not understand the implications of pumping water into such a space. Third, nobody seemed to take into account that Basel is naturally susceptible to earthquakes!



Well, you can guess what happened. Haering drilled the holes. He pumped the water down into the holes. The water heated up and expanded with great pressure. The countryside around and under Basel began to shake. The largest tremor was of a magnitude of 3.4. It was enough to give everyone a good shake, but not cause any major problems. Once it occurred, however, the project was shut down and the company sponsoring the effort had to pay out over nine million Swiss Francs for property damage!

Apparently sniffing an opportunity for some publicity, the prosecutor’s office in Basel brought Haering up on charges. Fortunately for him, the court was having none of it. It ruled that there was not evidence that Haering intended to cause earthquakes and acquitted him on all charges.

And you thought energy discussions were boring!

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