Oklahoma earthquakes!

[Western]

I know smaller ones happen here, but this one seems larger than normal. I guess this is where a storm shelter may do you little good of you live in "tornado ally".

From FOX news.


Three Earthquakes Shake Central Oklahoma

Published November 05, 2011


OKLAHOMA CITY Authorities say three earthquakes that have shaken much of central Oklahoma could be felt as far away as Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas.

The U.S. Geological Survey says on its website early Saturday morning that a 4.7 magnitude earthquake struck at 2:12 a.m., with an epicenter about six miles north of Prague in southern Lincoln County. That's about 50 miles east of Oklahoma City.

A 3.4 magnitude aftershock was reported at 2:27 a.m. from the same location.

The survey says a 2.7 magnitude quake also was recorded at 2:44 a.m.

Lincoln County sheriff officials say there have been no reports of injuries but several people have reported items falling off walls.

 

[creekbend]

It seems that earthquake activity has increased recently, not only worldwide but in the United States also. We humans exist on a Living Planet.

 

[Ken]

In central Ark. there is a area that has had earthquakes since the Mississippi ran back wards
And now the gas companys have been drilling wells and Frackling for gas. at same time they filed and received permission to drill down to below any chance of fluid coming to surface. and injecting water used in this Fracking of wells.
And the 1.5 to 2.5 earthquakes continued so the envinmental people used this to stop the water injecting and replug the wells. and the quakes continue with same readings. enjoy the motion keeps the stuff getting stacked to tall on the shelves.

ken

 

[Dan Hunter]

It woke me up. I live in Enid, OK.

 

[MicroPilot]

Map Centered at 37N, 95W

 

[MicroPilot]

It seems that earthquake activity has increased recently, not only worldwide but in the United States also. We humans exist on a Living Planet.

From these graphs Earthquake Facts and Statistics Graphs it would appear that earthquake activity has been increasing...but there might be underlying reasons like better or more detectors that are skewing this data.

 

[wngsprd]

I've been checking this USGS website frequently since we had our 5.8 earthquake back in August. We.ve had 44 more since then here in Central Virginia, none stronger than the first.

I saw yours this morning on this map.

Latest Earthquakes in the USA - Last 7 days

 

[boggen]

i am going to say, folks are just more aware of earthquakes. more so with internet. and advancement of technology. granted i am sure some bozo some place made a call that had a well dug for gas or like and caused some problem some place. but *shrugs*

 

[LBrown59]

I know smaller ones happen here, but this one seems larger than normal.
*I guess this is where a storm shelter may do you little good of you live in "tornado ally".

The storm shelter could turn out to be your burial vault in a quake but then you would not have funeral expences. :laughing:

 

[vwnotrunning]

We felt the 5.8 that we had last night. First time we ever felt anything that seemed to be an earthquake (previous ones just felt like close thunder). Lasted long enough for me to realize it was and earthquake and go to the grandson's bed and put him on the floor and stay over him. After it stops I go checking for damage and my wife comes out of the bathroom and seen the grandson sleeping on the floor and thinks the earthquake knocked hiim out of the bed. She was freaking out over that until I told her I put him on the floor. Seemed to shake and rumble for 1-1/2 minutes or more. One odd thing was our wall clock (wind up pendellum type) was stopped by the quake. No damage to it - I just found it odd that the pendellum would stop.

 

[Bird]

I was in bed asleep, but my wife says she was sitting on the sofa watching TV and thought she felt a little movement in the sofa, then decided it must have been her imagination.

 

[greasemonkeyok]

We felt the one last night since we are about 50 miles from the epicenter. It seemed to last for a long time. Visions of the chimney crashing down on the den caused us mild concern. But, nothing bad happened so far as we know.

 

[Bob Ha]

Grew up in Chandler/Sparks and still have some friends that live there. Never had a earthquake all the time I lived there and don't remember anyone talking about it. That was thirty years ago so maybe things have changed.

 

[Alan L.]

We felt it here in north Texas for sure. Lasted maybe 15 seconds and now I have a couple cracks in my brick that I didn't have before.

 

[OKnewguy]

I am about 50 miles from the one we had sat morning (i think a 4.2) and it woke us up, but the one last night, we were watching a movie and it was pretty wild(5.6 and about 40 miles away). No damage, it lasted a long time, and had some real shaking, not just a low rumble, like ones in the past. Here on the local news, they have all of these shots of damage, but most of it is cracks in brick and walls that look like they already had issues, you know old caulking and previous mortar repair.
No big deal really, but a helpless feeling non the less.
Dave

 

[Western]

We felt it here in north Texas for sure. Lasted maybe 15 seconds and now I have a couple cracks in my brick that I didn't have before.

Same here!, I slept through it, but my wife and daughter woke up because of it. They thought it was some kind of explosion.

 

[jinman]

I don't think we would ever have realized something was happening if it had not been the rattling of the pulls on my wife's dresser. They fold down against a metal backing plate and they were just rattling like crazy. I woke and asked my wife if she was getting something out of the dresser, but she said no. After a couple of seconds, she said she thought it was an earthquake and I knew instantly she was right because we've never felt the shuddering like that before. Considering how far we are from the epicenter in OK, I would not have wanted to be a lot nearer.

It's just a thought and I don't know if it has any credibility, but I'm thinking that water wells could silt in, crack a casing, or water tables be shifted slightly in depth due to underground settling. I also wonder what effects these quakes might have on producing gas/oil wells and injection wells. I'm not saying that drilling is responsible, but it certainly might be effected by a strong quake.

 

[Redneck_Randy]

We felt it all the way up here in Osage county being 70+ miles from the epicenter.

 

[dmccarty]

From these graphs Earthquake Facts and Statistics Graphs it would appear that earthquake activity has been increasing...but there might be underlying reasons like better or more detectors that are skewing this data.

I quickly read a report on the quakes over the weekend. There has been an increase in quakes in the OK area. They have increased in numbers and intensity. The USGS has put in more detectors over the years because of the increased activity. Seem like this has been over the last couple of decades but I just quickly scanned the story. Sounded to me that the fault line(s) where just getting more and more active "naturally."

Later,
Dan

 

[greasemonkeyok]

If frac fluids were getting into the stress zones of shifting plates, wouldn't it act as a lubricant allowing the plates to move slowly, thereby preventing the sudden shift?

Quakes occur when the buildup of energy is suddenly released after overcoming the friction between the shifting plates.

By the way, as many of us move dirt, think about the amount of energy it takes to move all the dirt and rock, even small distances, associated with an earth quake. The last big one in Oklahoma was 17,000 feet below the surface.