I read Walter Einenkel’s recent article on the latest spate of earthquakes centered around Edmond, Oklahoma, on what appears to be a NEW fault, with interest, and resignation.
Now, queue a big old sigh, signifying, ‘oh lord, not again’.
Yep. Again. We hate this, but it is what it is. The tradition has always been, in Oklahoma, that oil and gas interests call the shots traditionally, and it’s been taking to extremes under GOP guidance in the governor’s mansion and the state legislature.
Hence, our earthquake problems. And OH JOY, the state’s conducting an investigation, because, apparently, a NEW fault has been activated. Yippee. [See also www.yahoo.com/…].I’m back in Tulsa these days, and the accursed things are a daily (sometimes hourly) nuisance now.
I have family in Edmond who are dealing with being at the epicenter this go-round. This includes one badly frightened three year old boy, his mama (my brother’s youngest), her sister, who just PCSed back to the States from Italy and is stopping over on her way to her new duty station in Texas, and their mother.
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My sister’s youngest child was front and center in 2011 when the 5.8 quake on the Wilzetta fault struck at Shawnee (as well as for the other 5+ magnitude temblors before and after). The front of her dormitory at St. Gregory’s FELL DOWN, as did much of the historic admin building, as I recall. This included two walls in her room, where she was, physically, when it hit. She was 18 and it was her first time away from home [we had a hella time getting her to go back, btw].
At the same time, our house — mom and Dad’s — was knocked OFF its foundation in Tulsa.
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I’m caring for my mom now, who’s in the early stages of dementia @ 87 (pops passed the day after Christmas, 2005), and have moved back into the family home in Tulsa. It’s likely I’ll be here another 10 years as the average lifespan on my mom’s side is 97 (yay for me!).
So here’s the earthquake deal, as I have been observing it. There have always been oil wells on the back of the hill I live on, as long as I can remember, mostly on the Osage reservation. Truth is, oil money built this neighborhood (second-oldest in town). Unfortunately, oil is trying to wreck it, as well.
Mom and Dad’s house lies near the a fault line, on a hill, along the Tulsa-Osage County line, north of the notch*, within walking distance of Gilcrease Musum. The homes in this area are built atop the Coffeeville Formation, which is mostly shale interlayered with some sandstone. As you might guess we’ve always seen seismic activity at this location, but it was rare, before fracking made it a constant occurrence.
* — the notch: Tulsa county is small-case “t” shaped. Literally. The notch is on the left-hand side of the “t”
In 2011, during the earthquake flurry that led up to the big Shawnee quake, and continued to occur afterwards (in the 4.5-5.8 magnitude range), the house was knocked off its foundation. Recently, the concrete slab under the sun room and the patio cracked into three pieces. As well, the walkway off the driveway and steps into the house dropped 4 inches below the driveway surface last week (now there’s an additional step down).
In other words, the house actually tilts and shifts around on the foundation now, every time there’s a quake.
I had repairs done, but still there are new issues with every new quake at magnitude 4.3 or higher. For example, some days, the doors are off the plumb, other days, the floors tilt down the hill (yes we have some and I live on one), and some days, the house tilts up the hill, because the ground underneath the house is so unstable now. About twice a month it shifts west an inch or so …
This is a friggin’ pain.
Some days, I can’t get the doors open on the front of the house. If I can’t, I have to call someone to have them rehung or wait until the next earthquake flurry and hope they realign. It’s manageable, because the doors on the back of the house, which is the uphill side, don’t shift. The ones on the front of the house shift every time the earth moves. Of course, believe it or not, with this house, it also sometimes rains on only one side if the rainfall is light or intermittent (either it’s raining in the front yard and the back yard is dry, or vice versa).
I’ve got a buddy working for the USGS and friends in E&PS (geology) departments at a few universities: I sometimes reach out to them about this.
And, since I’ve got some experience with the oil patch and as well as some background in geology and geochemistry, I’ve got in the habit of keeping a detailed journal on the seismic activity and reporting suspected quaking on the USGS website as I experience it, at the USGS “did you feel it?” webpage.
Once or twice, I’ve reported events as they happened (which isn’t exactly fun … ) and occasionally am one of the first to report some events (fun for my competitive scientist-ego!).
Since I’ve moved back in, quaking and reporting has become a regular, sometimes hourly deal.
Before I came back, I was able to be making regular reports even though I was traveling back and forth between Houston and Tulsa every other weekend in 2013 and 2014 (that should give you an idea how frequently events were occurring, even then). I finally moved back to Tulsa, when mom had a TIA, family that was assisting her in Tulsa abandoned her, and traveling back and forth got to be cost-prohibitive.
Since then, I’ve found that documenting earthquake events can be near-continuous, some days. I wish it were not necessary. I’m tired of picking up broken knickknacks that are falling because of quakes and the house rocking/shifting.
I remember when the feds halting fracking everywhere in the early 80s: quaking was part of the reason why, with the main reason being the threat to drinking water aquifers. Then along comes Mary Fallin and Scott Pruitt in Oklahoma, neither of which care a flip if anyone has potable water OR a sound home or business building, as long as those sweet, sweet oil profits keep rolling in … they reactivated a deep fault that no one even knew about until it started rocking and rolling.
No one in my family has been injured except our baby on campus at St. Greg’s in 2011, and thankfully, it wasn’t serious. But other people in this state have been seriously injured. Buildings aren’t earthquake-proofed here, and some are very old. I think.
It’s a shame the oil industry won’t stop on its own — and a shame the state and state officials, such as Ms. Fallin and Mr. Pruitt, can’t be held responsible or liable for the damage to property and body that people in Oklahoma have suffered. Because people HAVE been hurt.
Note: I’ll not be available to answer comments until mid-day, if there are any. Thank you, and I’ll check in later.