This past July, I posted Another Earthquake about a small earthquake that I had felt, here at home. Since then, I believe there have been two or three earthquakes that have been centered in Kansas rather than Oklahoma. While eating lunch, this afternoon, I felt yet another one. I'm still blaming the oil industry; but, who actually knows?
Here is the summary just posted by USGS (United States Geological Survey). Unfortunately, I can't get the map to play nicely with my software; but, the link should work. [BTW: While I was posting this, another earthquake occurred with an epicenter about 4 miles distant from the one I felt. I did not feel the 2nd, weaker (3.4) earthquake.]
Summary
Location and Magnitude contributed by: USGS National Earthquake Information Center
Event Time
- 2014-10-02 18:01:24 UTC
- 2014-10-02 13:01:24 UTC-05:00 at epicenter
- 2014-10-02 13:01:24 UTC-05:00 system time
Location
37.242°N 97.904°W depth=5.0km (3.1mi)
Nearby Cities
- 11km (7mi) ESE of Harper, Kansas
- 60km (37mi) SW of Haysville, Kansas
- 65km (40mi) WSW of Derby, Kansas
- 70km (43mi) SW of Wichita, Kansas
- 199km (124mi) N of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
In my few minutes of research, I learned that they think some earthquakes could be related to deep waste-water injection wells, not fracking wells. But some earthquakes were proven not to be related. I was looking because your EQ had a depth of 3.1 miles so I was wondering how deep these wells are. All I could find are they are "deep" but no definition of what that is. I guess I need to keep looking.
Posted by: Ingineer66 | October 03, 2014 at 06:07 PM
What could be causing these earthquakes if not fracking?
Posted by: Hattie | October 04, 2014 at 01:56 AM
Ingineer66--I was a bit careless in my wording. Waste injection wells that are used to dispose of fluids that result or are a part of the fracking process are included in my mental picture of fracking.
Hattie--Up until a few years ago, all earthquakes were ascribed to natural causes.
Posted by: Cop Car | October 04, 2014 at 12:11 PM
For what it's worth, our daughter posted about an earthquake in her neck of the woods (NH) at NH Home of the Mini Earthquake. Her earthquake occurred just 24 hours 41 minutes after ours.
Posted by: Cop Car | October 05, 2014 at 08:17 AM
A mini earthquake for a mini state. I wonder what caused all those earthquakes in New England in the 1700's. Maybe the Indians were fracking for oil to seal their canoes like they did in Santa Barbara. 😄
Posted by: Ingineer66 | October 05, 2014 at 11:13 AM
Ingineer--I posit that time travelers from the year 2020 went back to extract oil before it became so hard to extract. They forget the warping of space caused by their travel and are totally unaware that within 10 years' of their leaving year 1701, the holes they poked will interact with the warping to produce a series of earthquakes.
; )
Posted by: Cop Car | October 05, 2014 at 02:04 PM
Nice idea, but if they can travel through time, why not go forward and get an energy source that does not use hydrocarbons?
Posted by: Ingineer66 | October 05, 2014 at 06:10 PM
Ingineer--Work with me here!
Posted by: Cop Car | October 06, 2014 at 07:58 AM
And...we had another EQ at about 8:52 am. This one is reported as a 4.4, epicenter 2 Km SSW of Cushing OK (think SE of Stillwater).
Posted by: Cop Car | October 10, 2014 at 10:02 AM