ENVIRONMENTAL HOLOCAUST
FRACKING-RELATED SEISMIC HAZARD
CONTINUED SEISMICITY IN OKLAHOMA
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FIRE-EARTH Models show Oklahoma seismicity WILL continue intensifying
Magnitude 4.0Mw quake strikes 3km S of Langston, Oklahoma, followed by at least one other shock measuring 2.7Mw.
Earthquake details
Magnitude: 4.0Mw
Event Time: 2014-04-06 14:58:54 UTC
Location: 35.917°N 97.260°W depth=5.8km (3.6mi)
Nearby Cities:
- 3km (2mi) S of Langston, Oklahoma
- 15km (9mi) ENE of Guthrie, Oklahoma
- 28km (17mi) SW of Stillwater, Oklahoma
- 35km (22mi) NE of Edmond, Oklahoma
- 54km (34mi) NNE of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Earthquake Location Map
Source: USGS/EHP.
Related Links
Fracking Oklahoma
[Mirrored from sourcewatch ] Oil output has doubled in the state since the start of 2010, from 160,000 to 320,000 barrels per day, primarily due to fracking for tight oil (also sometimes referred to as shale oil).
Oklahoma is part of the Caney and Woodford Shales, which are sites of drilling and fracking. The state also has thousands of injection and disposal wells, which have been linked to a 5.7 earthquake in the state in 2011.
Oklahoma Earthquakes
Oklahoma has seen a sharp rise in the number of earthquakes in the last few years. In August 2011, the Oklahoma Geological Survey examined a cluster of earthquakes in Oklahoma and found “that shortly after hydraulic fracturing began small earthquakes started occurring, and more than 50 were identified, of which 43 were large enough to be located. Most of these earthquakes occurred within a 24 hour period after hydraulic fracturing operations had ceased.”
On April 18, 2012, University of Memphis scientist Stephen Horton released his findings that a 5.7 quake in November 2011 was “possibly triggered” by injection wells near the fault that ruptured. Horton found that 63 percent of earthquakes have occurred within 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) of a deep injection well, compared to a 31 percent chance of a random, natural earthquake happening within 10 kilometers of a deep injection well. He did note that the correlation between the location of the quake centers and the wells was complicated by the fact that some of the nearby injection wells had been in operation for 10 years, and the amount of fluid being injected has reportedly been on the decline for the last five years.
In July 2012 it was reported that Oklahoma officials ignored advice about injecting water into faults, to maintain production of oil and natural gas.
A 2013 study published in Geology linked Oklahoma’s 5.7 earthquake to underground injection of wastewater, saying a decades-long time lag between injection and tremors is possible. Geologists placed seismometers in the area after the initial quake and were able to track fault rupture areas, which showed close proximity to disposal wells. According to the researchers: “we interpret that a net fluid volume increase after 18 yr of injection lowered effective stress on reservoir-bounding faults. Significantly, this case indicates that decades-long lags between the commencement of fluid injection and the onset of induced earthquakes are possible.”
In October 2013 a drilling wastewater operator ceased injections at Oklahoma’s Love County Disposal Well after a series of earthquakes. Injection began Sept. 3 and the earthquakes started Sept. 17 in the area near the Texas border, about 100 miles north of Dallas. The strongest was magnitude 3.4.]
Fire Earth 