Oklahoma is accustomed to brutal weather. Anybody who has spent time in the south knows the ferocity of a tornado ripping across the arid terrain. Yet, it wasn't a twister that had the Sooner State on edge Saturday. A few minutes past 3 AM ET a 4.7 magnitude earthquake shook Oklahoma and the surrounding states. According to CNN.com, up to 30 smaller aftershocks followed thoughout the day. Then, just before 12 AM ET, another 5.6 magnitude quake shook residents once again. Most "Okies" woke up expecting an action-packed day on the gridiron, but ended the day on a most unusual note.
It's not that earthquakes are uncommon in Oklahoma, but rather the size of the two large initial quakes and the third that followed a day later. The easiest explanation for this seismic occurance is that it is natural geological activity along the New Madrid Fault Line. After all, the fault line is ancient and is famous for having produced a series of thousands of quakes over a period of 5 months in the early 1800s. Even with this simple, scientific explanation at hand others have pointed to a cause that is man-made. I am of course referring to hydraulic fracturing.
Hydraulic Fracturing, "fracking" in short, is the process of drilling for natural gas. The process consists of physically drilling deep into the earth and the bedrock. A solution of salt-water and chemicals is pumped into the bedrock to break it apart. The natural gas stored in pockets in the bedrock is then released and collected. It is the belief of many that fracking is the cause of many ills, because of the way the process is done. Fracking companies are not forced to dislose the chemicals that they inject into the earth. In some case, residents that have lived near fracking sites have fooded the web with videos of flammable tap water.
Now, a recent press release by Caudrilla Resources, a fracking firm based in the UK, stated that independent auditors found a connection between the use of fracking methods and an uptick in seismic activity. A report, released by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) shortly after, also drew links between fracking and increased seismic activity. In the case examined by the USGS, the evidence suggests that fracking began and immediately so did small earthquakes. In all, the USGS recorded almost 50 earthquakes within a 2-mile radius within 24 hours of the fracking operations start.
In both the Caudrilla case and the USGS report, seismic activity was relatively minor in terms of scale, with most quakes falling below 2.0 and none reaching above the 3.0 threshold. This fact may very well quell some arguments about the cause of the earthquakes that occured Saturday and Sunday. Yet, it does not seem so far-fetched to believe that fracking could also be leading to quakes of greater size and scale. Whether it is the process of fracking itself, or it is the increase in smaller seismic occurences that are the potential cause, it is clear that more scientific review is needed.