Global CMT Upgrades Oklahoma Earthquakes to 5.3 and 6.0 Respectively...

Yes siree Bob, they did:

www.ldeo.columbia.edu...

These were 4.7 and 5.6 from the USGS.

Global CMT is sort of the final word on earthquake magnitudes, among seismologists themselves.

And you know what this means? That chances are, these quakes have less to do with fracking, and more to do with faulting. It's hard enough to convince that fracking causes quakes, but causing quakes of a 6.0 magnitude? Extremely doubtful.

And the reason is this: It takes a certain fault length of a lot of miles to create a 6.0 quake. And IF injecting fracking fluids causes faults to get lubricated, how on earth could a fault 100 miles long rupture on a majority of its length because of fracking?

Maybe in one confined area, creating small micro quakes, like MAYBE Arkansas. But not across the broad expanse necessary to create a 6.0!

And further articles support this, such as this:
tremblingearth.wordpress.com...

And here is the likely culprit:


The Wilzetta fault.

It may be hard to accept. It may not line up with expectations. There is a lot of hoopla about fracking, but at the same time- while it may be possible- it is not likely in this case of Oklahoma.

In Colorado, at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, they got a 5.5M from injection.

coloradoindependent.com...

reply to post by TrueAmerican


And did you see the map I found in that 147Mb document that shows wells all along the fault?

I agree it make it less likely but still possible.

reply to post by PuterMan


I did d/l that doc, but haven't gotten to it yet. I hate adobe acrobat, and the free file viewer I have struggles with a doc that big. Works great for everything else, though.

I was just reading and saw that apparently, the USGS is honing in on characteristic differences between fracking quakes and faulting quakes. This could be from any one of a number of different characteristics. I am of the opinion that fracking quakes would tend to contain higher center frequencies, because the quakes would likely be smaller, and not involve faults. When fracking lubricates an existing fault though, that is going to get real complicated real fast. But all indications are this is an active area of research, and still to hard to call. We're just going to have to wait for more to surface on the issue to be sure.

reply to post by PuterMan


I will grant you this much though. If enough fracking fluid were injected at enough points close enough to an existing fault, it could potentially cause enough of the fault to give way, creating a chain effect that could cause a large quake. Believe me, I am with you on that. But proving that is going to be awful tough.

Interestingly though, this case in Oklahoma just might qualify if there are enough injection wells directly on the fault, or very close.

reply to post by TrueAmerican


A couple of points TA. First the CMT project states that it is 3 to 4 months before an event gets to the main catalogue. These are just quick calculations.

In addition the USGS is displaying the CMT calc by the same two people as 5.7

earthquake.usgs.gov...

Mmm. Which one do we believe?

I think the fracking connection, if that caused this, would be a result of lubricating a fault line already under stress and pressure. I don't think fracking is capable of making a quake where no chance previously existed, but it would seem we need to consider they may awaken previously dormant ones that had an equilibrium with the stresses prior to the drilling.

These upgraded numbers are disturbing. I'm about midway between these quakes and the recognized 'New Madrid Seismic Zone'. I really hope they pause in any fracking operations until this is no longer theories and guesses but becomes some science backed conclusions and fact, as much as can be done.

We need to know yes or no on whether a connection exists. I hope it's NO....we need this natural gas and domestic resource production. On the other hand.....We can't just keep on going until a MAJOR quake hits if they are related. Every quake changes the variables on other area fault lines. IF it's from human activity, that activity needs to stop, IMHO

Originally posted by PuterMan
Mmm. Which one do we believe?

Your guess is as good as mine, but probably better.

reply to post by TrueAmerican


Maybe they increased the magnitude on purpose so we'd think it wasn't caused by fracking..
This is a conspiracy site..

reply to post by ipleadthe5th


Now there's a thought!
I like it!
Rainbows
Jane

Originally posted by ipleadthe5th
reply to post by TrueAmerican

 

Maybe they increased the magnitude on purpose so we'd think it wasn't caused by fracking..
This is a conspiracy site..

You are not the only one exploring that exact possibility.

Now with a new 4.7 just happening, fracking is becoming so much less likely as the cause, though. It is almost surely faulting, as I just couldn't see that many big quakes happening in the same rough area if it were fracking induced. But I could be wrong, and I am quite clear on that.

The way I see fracking is something similar to how the Granite slabs were cut into exact pieces by the ancient Egyptians and seveal other civilizations. Modern technique is identical to the ancient technique. Drill holes along a line at regular intervals on the Stone to be Cut. Keep hitting the wedges into the holes at a regular pace and watch the biggest and the baddest of the Granite stone break into a well defined form without much effort.

The question remains how much fluid is/has been pumped into the ground by the wells along the fault line at what distance between the wells? and since when?

WEDGES_INSIDE_GRANITE

ONE_OF SEVERAL_LINK_TO_BUILDING_THE_GREAT_PYRAMID

Hope my anology makes sense.

Last quake was just at a depth of 1 km. Now that is interesting.


EDIT: 1.9 km now. Earlier it was posted as 1 km.

reply to post by dbates


The USGS has depth at 5.1 km, but poorly constrained and with an uncertainty of +/- 5.1 km.

earthquake.usgs.gov...

Meaning: they have no clue how deep that quake was, but it was shallow. And further, I can't see how it could possibly be poorly constrained with all the seismos in the area. Those quakes register on at least 7 immediate area stations that I know of, and there are probably many more.

news.yahoo.com...

You all hit it right on the head! I was wondering why the USGS was messing with the intensity of the quakes, then I saw this.

And the experts weighed in quickly-I think they are trying to cover something up.

reply to post by katfish


I took your find and posted it on QuakeWatch.
Keep up the research.

M 4.5 Earthquake, 8km NW of Jones, Oklahoma

26 minutes ago

Location: 3 miles (4 km) SSW of Arcadia, OK


That one was spooky...


Link