It was the second natural disaster exceeding magnitude 5.0 recorded in Oklahoma this year, which likely will increase the chances of a more powerful quake to come, said USGS geophysicist Daniel McNamara. Video may take a moment to load.
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The directive from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission adds to its order to shut 37 disposal wells shut in a 725-square-mile (1,878-sq-km) area around Pawnee, where the quake struck.
With no OCC jurisdiction over the nearby sovereign Osage Nation, federal regulators ordered 17 wells to close there.
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The state average of earthquakes with at least a magnitude 2.8 has steadily declined since previous year, Director of the Oklahoma Geological Survey Jeremy Boak said at a previously scheduled public forum held Wednesday at the University of Tulsa.
With Oklahoma in an oil production downturn, we’re not sure how much regulation or decreased drilling are affecting seismicity.
The uptick in earthquakes in Oklahoma over the last five years has been linked to the high-pressure injection of oil and gas wastewater deep underground. Without such formations, the state would not have the energy resources it does, he said.
Boak said it’s also possible that some aftershocks greater than magnitude 4 could still be triggered along the newly discovered fault that has yet to be named.
The quake on September 3 was the strongest on record in Oklahoma, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.
“They’re kind of stunned, but they’re very polite and they’re very cooperative”, he said.
Boak said while he believes the number of earthquakes overall is declining, there is the continued possibility of earthquakes or equal or larger size in the region.
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Oklahoma Geological Survey Director Jeremy Boak said locating faults in the state has posed a real challenge for scientists and regulators. “We don’t have direct correlation from individual wells to individual earthquakes”.
