Monday, November 07, 2011

Earthquakes in Oklahoma?

There was a earthquake in Oklahoma a few days ago. According to CNN, the quake and aftershocks continue:

....The 5.6-magnitude quake struck four miles east of Sparks in Lincoln County at 11:53 p.m. ET Saturday.
It hit struck the same area where a 4.7-magnitude quake struck just hours earlier -- at 3:12 a.m. ET Saturday.
By 8 a.m. Sunday, geologists had recorded more than 30 aftershocks.....

What could have caused the quakes?
PESN has this:

....This is not a natural earthquake. This is due to fracking operations going on in the area. Sorry for the folks making excuses for the oil and gas operations. This one is theirs at 5 km (3.1miles, 16,500 Feet). Its depth is square in the region affected by their drilling. It may in fact be exactly at their drill depth.
On November 5, 2011 at 2:12 AM CDT (07:12:45.4 UTC) an magnitude 4.7 earthquake occurred in Lincoln County, Oklahoma. This turned out to be a foreshock to a much larger earthquake. The mainshock occurred at 10:53 PM CDT (11-6 03:53:10 UTC). The earthquakes occurred about 6 miles northwest of Prague and 5.2 miles southeast of Sparks. These earthquakes occurred very close to where a magnitude 4.3 earthquake occurred on February 27, 2010. From the location of the earthquake and the focal mechanism it is most likely that this earthquake occurred on the Wilzetta fault also known as the Seminole uplift. We are currently working to locate the numerous aftershocks will continue to update information as we can. (Oklahoma Geological Survey)
There are several points here
(1) This is massive. The force here is equivalent to about 100 million tons of TNT detonation.
(2) This earthquake has the potential for very real damage to things like hydroelectric pools.
(3) This may in fact be below the fracking operations somewhat but it is well within the zone that is affected by the ground shifts associated with these operations.
(4) While some of the energy here may be natural in origin, this is a man caused event.....


Ohioans should get ready for earthquakes here since Gov. Kasich and his corporate buddies will be fracking in the state very soon, if they haven't already started.