Rare Earthquake Warning Issued for Central Oklahoma (5.0 magnitude plus)

[big_dog]

Source: Live Science.com

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.
This is the first time the USGS has issued an earthquake warning for a state east of the Rockies, Williams said. Such seismic hazard assessments are more typically issued for Western states following large quakes, to warn residents of the risk of damaging aftershocks, he said.

While Oklahoma's buildings can withstand light earthquakes, the damage from a magnitude-5 temblor could be widespread. Oklahoma's last major earthquake was in November 2011, when a magnitude-5.6 earthquake centered near Prague, Oklahoma, destroyed 14 homes and injured at least two people. "Building owners and government officials should have a special concern for older, unreinforced brick structures, which are vulnerable to serious damage during sufficient shaking," Bill Leith, a USGS senior science adviser for earthquakes and geologic hazards, said in the joint statement.

While scientists haven't ruled out natural causes for the increase, many researchers suspect the deep injection wells used for the disposal of fracking wastewater could be causing the earthquake activity. Fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, is a method of extracting oil and gas by cracking open underground rock. According to the USGS, the number of quakes magnitude-3 and stronger jumped by 50 percent in the past eight months in Oklahoma. Some 183 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or greater struck between October 2013 and April 14, 2014. The state's long-term average from 1978 to 2008 was only two earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or larger per year.

If the earthquakes are caused by wastewater injection, then the activity could continue or decrease with future changes in well usage in the state. "We don't know if this earthquake rate is going to continue," Williams said. "It could go to a higher rate or lower, so the increased chances of a damaging quake could change in the future."



Read more: http://www.livescience.com/45361-oklahoma-earthquake-risk-rising.html

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[Champion Jack]

1. Fracking Gasholes =Earthquakes

[olddad56]

2. all of these earhquakes near fracking sites are just a coincidence, nothing to see here.

you betcha

[AtheistCrusader]

3. Keep on fracking, you're gonna keep on shaking.

It's a very simple equation when you play with fault lubrication.

[Newsjock]

4. No, the USGS Did Not Issue an "Earthquake Warning" Today.

http://thevane.gawker.com/no-the-usgs-did-not-issue-an-earthquake-warning-toda-1572044230

Several news websites posted reports today that the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the federal agency in charge of recording and studying earthquakes, issued a "rare earthquake warning" for Oklahoma. They did issue a statement saying that a strong earthquake could happen in the future, but using the term "warning" is pure hype.

The USGS released a joint statement with the Oklahoma Geological Survey on May 2 advising that a string of small earthquakes across central Oklahoma could signal that a larger earthquake is coming in the future.

... What the sites breathlessly reporting an "earthquake warning" are ignoring is that the original statement was issued on October 22, 2013, and updated on May 2. They're picking up on it today because the information was pushed to the media this morning through a press release.

[tavernier]

7. Glad to hear that!

My first thought was in regards to the fires presently burning in the state. An earthquake now would be a double cataclysm.

[bananas]

9. That is a warning - by definition 1A of the Oxford Dictionary.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/warning

warning

1A statement or event that indicates a possible or impending danger, problem, or other unpleasant situation:

'a warning about heavy thunderstorms'
'suddenly and without any warning, the army opened fire'
(as modifier): 'a red warning light'

It's kind of silly to pretend it's not a warning.

[Tess49]

10. As someone who lives in earthquake central, I take it as a warning.

Let's see: Blizzards, ice storms, F-5 tornados, earthquakes, firestorms AND creepy right wing politicians -- what's not to like about this place?

[840high]

5. kick

[Dustlawyer]

6. They have known for many decades that high pressure injection wells cause earthquakes.

There was discussion in the 50's or 60's about doing it in California to relieve stress on the tectonic plates and avoid "The Big One!" We are have 100's of quakes in Texas along the fracking line of a big shale formation. The quakes are ONLY around the area of the wells where they have never had quakes before.

[Delmette]

8. Well...

Duh!