DALLAS (AP) — Earthquakes that have swarmed North Texas in recent years occurred on faults awakened by human activity after they had been dormant since dinosaurs roamed the area, according to a new university study.

There have been frequent earthquakes in recent years in the Fort Worth Basin, from the rural town of Venus to the heavily developed Dallas suburb of Irving, along faults that had been dead for more than 300 million years, according to the study by Southern Methodist University researchers published online last week in the journal Science Advances .

The study's conclusion supports r...