Oklahoma Man Made Earthquake

A swarming number of 30 earthquakes have happened in less than 19 hours, weather.com reports. Two earthquakes happened within 30 seconds of each other. The first had a magnitude of 4.7, and the second had a magnitude of 4.8. All 30 earthquakes have happened in the state of Oklahoma. Home to Oklahoma City, Fairview, and other highly populated cities. The earthquakes were felt as far as the eastern Texas panhandle, Kansas, Wichita, and many other near places around the map. What is so crazy about this certain event is that there were only 42 earthquakes TOTAL in Oklahoma in 2010. Within 19 hours, Oklahoma has managed to almost reach the number. According to USA Today, the state has hit 70 earthquakes in a week. Oklahoma is home to huge gas and

With earthquakes on the rise, we must figure out the cause of them and determine a solution to help limit or even prevent them from occurring. Since early 2009, earthquakes have been sweeping across the state of Oklahoma, causing many people to worry about their own well-being. Many scientists speculate the source of the earthquakes might be a result of Hydraulic Fracturing deep down in Earths’ crust. Hydraulic fracturing is a process in which oil and natural gas companies pump up to millions of gallons of wastewater, sand, and chemicals down drilled holes in order to release pockets of shale within the earth. This use of technology is in question of the potential cause or inducement of earthquakes in

Earthquakes have been recorded throughout history for thousands of years. Even before seismographs in early times, there are records and accounts of mysterious ground shaking. Earthquakes occur when rocks break along an underground fault (UPSeis, 2007). This, in return, causes vibrations through the earth which causes ground shaking. The magnitude of the shaking varies depending on how great the movement along the fault is; the greater the movement, the bigger the earthquake. Some earthquakes are huge and cause significant damage, while others are small and cause little or no damage what-so-ever. Earthquakes are unpredictable, and can happen at any time. It is uncertain where an earthquake will strike, but there is a greater risk

Earthquakes in North Texas have been popular in the past couple of years. Texas has never been a state to host earthquakes like the ones being experienced. There has been many theories from locals about the causes of minor earthquakes. What are their theories about the increasing in earthquakes in North Texas? One, is the Hydraulic “fracking”, the drilling that effects the underground soil to crack. It only gives airways for gas or oil to work its way up to the surface. The theory of hydraulic fracturing does not add up for some but that the wastewater disposals theory is a better conclusion. Wastewater disposals or water injections are related to “fracking” institutions. Wastewater disposals are water tunnels filled from underground that can

Over more than 50 decades there has been multiple earthquakes that have been caused by the activity that takes place beneath and above the surface of the earth. For every earthquake there are various effects and consequences, these are generally not preventable but teachable moments. As we study and explore landforms we learn and better understand how today 's structures came about, what took place decades ago and where do we go from here. Thanks to the technology and inquiring minds we are able to study past events like the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1964 Alaska earthquake. In comparing these two events we can get an overview of what happened and better prepare ourselves for something like that in the future.

The U.S Geological Service has linked natural gas extraction “to seismic instability and small earthquakes in regions where natural gas drilling is taking place.” Researchers found that as the “rate of drilling and the use of hydraulic fracturing increased in an area, so did the frequency of earthquakes.”

Of all the naturally occurring events on Earth, earthquakes are among the most devastating and bring a lot of truth to the statement, “Just because something is natural does not mean it is not dangerous.” Earthquakes are one of the most natural things I can think of that can cause massive damage and loss of human live in many instances, and the effects are sometimes long term. “Nothing happens without a force. Many geophysicists accept the theory that continents move as a result of the forces generated by mantel convection deep within Earth – motions driven by our planet’s internal heat energy” (Trefil & Hazen, 2010). According to National Geographic (1996-2012), constant movement in the tectonic plates that make up the Earth’s

Some scientists are beginning to see a link between fracking and earthquakes, as evidence mounts for the role of fracking in water contamination as well as the negative health effects associated with living near a fracking well.

The earthquake that rocked Kobe, Japan in 1995 veered Japanese culture into another direction in regard to mental healthcare. Remembered as the Great Hanshin Earthquake, the 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck # regions and claimed the lives of 6,400 (Baba et al.,1996). At least 55,000 people were placed in shelters, and among them included mothers, children, the elderly, and disabled (Baba et al.,1996). The demographics mentioned are specified because of research suggesting each group had pre-existing conditions or heightened stress that became exacerbated due to disaster-related trauma. As emotional suffering became so vast, many in positions of power could not overlook the emotional devastation caused by the disaster. However, they continued

According to our textbook, it appears that an earthquake poses a greater threat to the Pacific Northwest than a volcano does. The text states that “California’s San Andreas Fault runs diagonally from southeast to northwest for nearly 800 miles.” In the lecture notes, it shows a diagram of the earthquakes that have occurred since 1977 along the Pacific coast, and the area is riddled with earthquakes. The likelihood of a massive scale earthquake occurring in the Pacific Northwest has been predicted; however, our lecture states that we are unable to predict an earthquake and are only able to gauge the probability of one occurring. Those who would be in harm’s way would be those people who fall within the Mercalli Intensity scale area, and those

The area was considered seismically stagnant. That all changed when oil and gas companies began drilling for natural gas. Even though some scientists believe hydraulic fracking is not the offender of the sudden earthquake breakout, studies are performed and reviewed to determine the cause. Since the sudden earthquake breakout a team of scientist, led by Southern Methodist University (SMU) seismologist, Heather DeShon and Brian Stump, have been studying the earthquakes in North Texas. Studies are finding that the earthquakes in North Texas are not caused by hydraulic fracturing, but yet the method to dispose of the wastewater. The combination of wastewater injection and saltwater extraction from natural gas wells is presumably the cause (DeShon, et al., 2015). A recent model study of earthquakes in Azle, Texas by the SMU team predicted that substantial pressure changes on faults that are already strained could activate the faults and initiate an earthquake. Cliff Frohlich, a seismologist at the University of Texas at Austin is confident the method of how wastewater from fracking is disposed is the perpetrator of the earthquakes. The waste is pumped into underground disposal well and if that well is near a fault which is under stress the liquid from the well can loosen the fault causing an earthquake (Detorres,

Before drilling can begin, the land around site has to be cleared for equipment to be delivered. This requires clearing out the vegetation if a site is planned on a forested area. These work sites, called a “well pad”, are “an average of 8.8 acres” (Lampe). This means that hundreds of trees have to be cut down just to provide space for a well pad. In Pennsylvania, “seven-hundred thousand acres of … state forest land are leased or available for gas production” (Lampe). Additionally, with no vegetation, the land can be susceptible to erosion. The most notable impact on the land is earthquakes. These have been recorded in greater frequencies and magnitude in areas that have recently earthquakes are happening in areas that are not known for having them. The correlation of fracking and the increase of seismic activity have sparked debates on whether the two are connected. Studies have pointed it to the water waste from fracking being the cause. In Ohio, Arkansas, and Texas, earthquakes that are between “2.0 and 4.7 in magnitude have been tied directly to deep well injection of fracking waste” (Lampe). There already have been reports of minor damages in numerous states. Luckily, the magnitude of most quakes recorded so far have been small, but that may soon change, as William Ellsworth of the U.S. Geological Survey notes that “[t]he more small earthquakes we have . . . increases the odds we’re going to have a more damaging event.” (Watson) Since

Injection of fracking wastewater underground has a high potential to induce seismic events which can cause earthquakes that measured as high up to 5.2 (Hoffman, 2018). More earthquakes have been induced to the activities of fracking as it is shown in the data that the number of small earthquakes in drilling heavy regions have grown exponentially in the US (Vittana, 2018). For instance, in Kansas and Oklahoma that were linked directly to localized fracking operation (Vittana,

Fracking is helpful in that it allows one well to access more natural gas by making horizontal drilling in different directions within the same well possible. However, there have been many concerns about the environmental safety of fracking. Accusations that fracking taints local water supplies have been alleged but no substantial evidence has ever surfaced to support these complaints. More consequential reports have been made regarding the negative effect of fracking and the subsequent disposal of wastewater into the earth’s crust on the seismic activity surrounding well sites. The practice of fracking is linked to the increase in seismic activity in the midwest. Although there are faults beneath Oklahoma and there has indeed historically been seismic activity of small magnitudes never before has there been such clusters or high frequencies of earthquakes in the area, nor has

     Most of the worst earthquakes are associated with changes in the shape of the Earth's outermost shell, particularly the crust. These so called tectonic earthquakes are generated by the rapid release of strain energy that is stored within the rocks of the crust, which on continents is about 22 miles thick. A small proportion of earthquakes are associated with human activity. Dynamite or atomic explosions, for example, can sometimes cause mild quakes. The injection of liquid wastes deep into the Earth and the pressures