Hi All. How many of you remember the Baldwin Hills Reservoir collapse of 12/14/1963? I was in Japan at the time of the collapse. I saw it on the Japanese news. However at the time there was no explanation given as to why the reservoir collapsed.

Today while watching a program on the History Channel I learned the reason for the collapse. The very thing Petra has talked about and has posted about in the past caused it. It was caused by the injection of water into the ground by oil wells drillers in order to extract the last bit of oil.

The role of central graben subsidence, accelerated by oil extraction, supplemented by reinjection of waste brine into the ground caused a fault to move. Injection pressures exceeded hydro fracture pressures and the recorded timing of the fault offset (which was dutifully recorded by the reservoir owner) indicate the injection as being the decisive factor.

Wonder if anything was learned? Take Care…Don in creepy town

• Baldwin Hills