Oklahoma had a very busy weekend, at least according to the richter scale.
GUTHRIE, Okla. (AP) -- The U.S. Geological Survey has recorded seven small earthquakes shaking central Oklahoma in a span of about 14 hours.
The temblors are part of an increase in earthquakes across Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas that some scientists say could be connected to the oil and gas drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing, and especially the wells in which the industry disposes of its wastewater.
Sunday's quakes ranged from magnitude 2.6 to 2.9 and were centered in the Guthrie, Jones and Langston areas, 15 miles to 30 miles northeast of Oklahoma City. The USGS said the quakes were recorded between 7:57 p.m. Saturday and 9:51 a.m. Sunday. No injuries or damage were reported.
Those follow four other quakes, including a 4.3-magnitude temblor near Langston recorded shortly after noon Saturday. The other Saturday morning quakes ranged in magnitude from 2.9 to 3.2.
http://hosted.ap.org/...
While the media focuses on seven earthquakes in fourteen hours, the state could also be said to have experienced 11 earthquakes in separate regions in 48 hours.
Just a busy afternoon, it seems in Langston, Oklahoma as the community and surrounding areas represented the epicenter of many of these shakes.
Langston, just north of Oklahoma City and one of the areas of continuous fracking has been at the epicenter of earthquakes that have continued over the last few years.
http://www.bloomberg.com/...
There have been more earthquakes strong enough to be felt in Oklahoma this year than in all of 2013, overwhelming state officials who are trying to determine if the temblors are linked to oil and natural gas production.
The state on April 6 experienced its 109th earthquake of a magnitude 3 or higher, matching the total for all of 2013, according to Austin Holland, a research seismologist with the Oklahoma Geological Survey. More quakes followed, including a magnitude 4 near Langston about 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Oklahoma City.
That was in April. Oklahoma, it seems is in a race for record setting numbers of earthquakes in a year.
Don't worry though, T. Boone Pickens, Oklahoma State Alumni spent the weekend campaigning for more fracking in his home state and tells us there is nothing wrong.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Fracking "isn't gonna hurt anybody. The environmentalists, they moan and groan about it, but when you get down to it, fracking is two miles down below the surface, you’re not gonna damage anything,” Pickens said in an interview with The WorldPost at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California.
Or maybe I need to adjust my numbers. Oklahoma experienced a 4.3 Quake near Enid, Oklahoma this morning already.
http://earthquaketrack.com/...
Current USGS map of this years earthquakes in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Earthquake Map
Update This morning, 7/15, Oklahoma has went through another set of Earthquakes. 3.9 (Choctaw), 3.8 (Choctaw), 3.3 (Enid), 3.3 (Guthrie).