They are the strongest quakes since 2011, when the state was shaken by a record 5.6 temblor on a night in which ESPN was broadcasting an Oklahoma State football game and analyst Kirk Herbstreit was rattled as it happened.
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Virtually all the quakes are the result of slippage in faults that have effectively been lubricated by watery wastes from oil and gas production that have been pumped underground.
Almost three dozen small to mid-sized earthquakes have rocked northern Oklahoma towns since Wednesday, rattling windows and nerves in a region where scientists have linked seismic activity to oil wells.
The US Geological Survey reports a magnitude 4.7 quake hit just before 10.30pm on Wednesday about 32km northwest of Fairview and a magnitude 4.8 quake struck about a kilometre away less than a minute later. It was quickly followed by a 4.8 magnitude natural disaster that prompted reaction on social media from across the area.
On Wednesday, NYSE said trading of SandRidge – which had a ticker symbol of SD – would be suspended immediately, after the exchange’s regulation division determined that the company was “no longer suitable for listing based on “abnormally low” price levels”, pursuant to the exchange’s policies.
“It was felt all over the county, pretty much all over the state”, Major County Undersherrif Darin Reams said. Buchanan says since that order Kansas has seen a drop in the number and intensity of earthquakes.
The Corporation Commission has taken action before, reducing the volume from wastewater injection wells during the past few months in an area around 30 miles away from last night’s epicenter. “I literally thought a bulldozer or a truck hit the house”.
The Oklahoma Oil and Gas Association, however, disputes the state’s conclusions. Members of the concert band are drawn from across the state, and the quakes are something they – and their parents and the audience – can relate to, Knight said.
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He says it’s very unusual to experience that many in such a short time.
