Oklahoma Quake Swarm Thread

a reply to: Greven

I don't know why it takes so long for Oklahoma quakes to be listed. I saw it from the Tulsa station 10 minutes ago, in GEE. I think it is a high 3 or possibly a mag 4, too.


(ignore the bottom seismogram; that is northern California--I only left it in to show the time stamp below it)

USGS just listed it as Mag 4.0 13km N of Edmond, OK
60 people have already reported feeling it.

Rare Earthquake Warning Issued for Oklahoma

Mile for mile, there are almost as many earthquakes rattling Oklahoma as California this year. This major increase in seismic shaking led to a rare earthquake warning today (May 5) from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Oklahoma Geological Survey. In a joint statement, the agencies said the risk of a damaging earthquake — one larger than magnitude 5.0 — has significantly increased in central Oklahoma. Geologists don't know when or where the state's next big earthquake will strike, nor will they put a number on the increased risk. "We haven't seen this before in Oklahoma, so we had some concerns about putting a specific number on the chances of it," Robert Williams, a research geophysicist with the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program in Golden, Colorado, told Live Science. "But we know from other cases around the world that if you have an increasing number of small earthquakes, the chances of a larger one will go up."

www.livescience.com...

odd events be a happenin

a reply to: canucks555

i just saw the warning and came here to post.... put it in the quake thread and then saw this one. a 5.0 in oklahoma.... it's a crazy thought.

Hopefully it amounts to nothing. Still, it's kind of concerning.

We're still having earthquakes here. According to the Oklahoma Geosurvey data, they've tracked 124 (per my app) earthquakes in the last 7 days: 24 1.0-1.9M, 10 3.0-3.9M, and the rest in the 2.0-2.9M range. Fortunately for me, they've been less frequent nearby than they were before.

related and an interesting development in Texas:

The state agency responsible for regulating the oil and gas industry in Texas has requested that fracking companies report data related to wastewater disposal wells daily — instead of yearly — after hundreds of earthquakes hit an area with no history of seismic activity, said the mayor of a small Texas town on Tuesday. At least 300 small earthquakes have hit North Texas — home to the heavily drilled Barnett Shale region — since January, according to United States Geological Survey (USGS) data. Critics say the state has acted too slowly in investigating the unusual seismic activity and its possible links to fracking activities. “The Texas Railroad Commission has sent a letter requesting that companies voluntarily give that information,” said Alan Brundrett, mayor of Azle, a town of about 11,000 in North Texas that has experienced unusual earthquakes.

america.aljazeera.com...

So let's say that these quakes are found by experts to be 100% caused by fracking.
That means that (God forbid) if a big shaker caused damage, the insurance companies or the common ctizen could sue the oil companies who are doing the fracking?

-I could see a lot of disinformation agents and lawyers pressuring the scientists and whistle blowers with this scenario..we're talking about billions of dollars.

Another day, another annoying earthquake. This one was fairly widely felt; it wasn't a 4+, but it was a strong and shallow 3+. Certainly not the worst I've felt, but it hit at a good time to be felt - 9:46pm today; late in the evening, but just prior to the news. A great time for people to notice it while they're still awake!

Here's my rough estimated radius of it being felt with Oklahoma's geology (inner is 3 range, next is 2 range, etc):

It was close to me again... and Liberty Lake, where they have a seismograph. We've had a few more recently, but the winds have been extremely strong the past several days and so it's hard to tell if it was a quake or the wind.

They're doing a lot of fracking in the Coyle/Guthrie area right now. Coincidentally, that's where most of the quakes are. On these reports it's called "northeast of okc" or east of Edmond but talk to the people in Coyle or Guthrie (as I have) and that's where the quakes and fracking are happening.

Well, another big earthquake today, just a bit south of Lake Arcadia (which itself is northeast of OKC and east of Edmond):

Listed as a 4.5 via Oklahoma Geological Survey. This adds to the long list of (previously) rare 4.0+ for this year. Lots of aftershocks and some foreshocks, too:

Several of these were 3.0+, including one about 16min prior to the last. The biggest lasted a good twenty seconds and woke me up (5:47am local time), and was more of a proper earthquake than the quick jolts we've been having.

It was felt pretty widely. which is typical of significant earthquakes in this geology. I may not have the estimations correct on magnitude over radius, so those colored circles may not be representative. Still looking for a better formula.

Top story on the CBC news site today, interesting read.

A new study explains how just four wells forcing massive amounts of drilling wastewater into the ground are probably shaking up Oklahoma. Those wells seem to have triggered more than 100 small-to-medium earthquakes in the past five years, according to a study published Thursday by the journal Science. Many of the quakes were much farther away from the wells than expected.

www.cbc.ca...

Heads up here - we had a really big earthquake earlier today. I hadn't gotten to posting about it due to the excitement (and other issues): M4.2, depth=3.5km

earthquake.usgs.gov...

Big and close enough to break plates (which did their own damage to other things), and shake nails out of the wood frame enough that they pushed through the drywall in two rooms. I was asleep at the time, but the shaking and all the racket woke me up. Scared the dickens out of me!

a reply to: Greven
Here's some damage at our house, minor but first time we've had damage:
Not sure what that spot on the wall is, but 3 nails poked through the drywall here:

And several plates fell from a wall rail high above the cabinets in the kitchen:


One of them messed up the counter a bit, another broke with such force that a shard embedded in the floor. All of them were antiques, alas. I wish I'd followed my own suggestion from the last time we had a bigger quake nearby and moved the silly things down.

Things have definitely picked up here in Oklahoma. I didn't quite realize how much they have picked up until someone asked me if i had heard about the quake today (referring to the one in California). I immediately asked if it was close to OKC.

a reply to: kaaer

From what I can see (looking at the areas where people feel the jolts) it looks as though a 2~mag is felt as though it was a 3, a 4 mag feels like 5, five like a six.
It's not just the depth, its the geology of the area. Like it's just a harder layer than a lot of other places on the planet.
(my opinion, just theory)

3 mag now as we speak. (Oklahoma) Did you feel that?

*wait no, that was in Kansas,

sometimes I get a little hyper.

a reply to: canucks555

Funny you bring up the geology of the area affecting how earthquakes carry. I read this morning on The ol' ATS someone saying the exact same thing.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I believe it was in this thead.

That looked like a big one!


M 4.0 - 5km S of Guthrie, Oklahoma

5 kilometers down, shallow shallow ..



earthquake.usgs.gov...

a reply to: canucks555

That one sure woke me up, but I thought it was further away than it was. Not enough to get me out of bed though! Just looked at the clock, shook my head, and went back to sleep.

Bump because things seem to be moving around even more than normal the past day or so... lots of 3.5s and even 4s. (usually they're ranging between 2 and 3)

-yall stay safe down there

Bump because things seem to be moving around even more than normal the past day or so... lots of 3.5s and even 4s. (usually they're ranging between 1and 3)

-yall stay safe down there