The state has been recording 2.5 earthquakes daily of a magnitude 3 or greater, a rate 600 times greater than observed before 2008, the Oklahoma Geological Survey said in a report past year.
Advertisement
Only two previous earthquakes in Oklahoma were stronger than Saturday’s: a magnitude 5.6 quake in 2011 and a 5.5 magnitude quake in 1952, said Robert Williams, a geophysicist with USGS.
The U.S.G.S. says past quakes in this area of Oklahoma have been related to wastewater injection wells.
A 3.9 quake followed in the same area about 10 minutes later. Sheriff’s dispatcher Cheryl Landes said there had been several calls from concerned residents, but no damage more than pictures knocked off shelves and walls. That quake, centered in Prague, damaged 200 buildings, according to The Associated Press.
And seismologists believe this could be linked to the state’s frequent earthquakes.
Had Saturday’s natural disaster had its epicenter roughly 40 miles north in Kansas, it would have tied the 1867 record for the largest quake ever recorded in the Sunflower State.
Advertisement
ABC News reports that the quake could be felt in Texas, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, New Mexico, Kansas and Arkansas. This method of retrieving oil and natural gas is known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. He said the complete plan will be released Tuesday.
