Another possibly fracking-related quake in east Texas

[starroute]

There was a magnitude 4.3 overnight about halfway between Nacogdoches and Shreveport.

The historical seismicity map shows no previous earthquake activity in that area, except one dot right next to the star that marks the current quake. I take that to be the location of a 3.7 (or 3.9) quake a week ago that set off speculation about fracking.



http://www.kmsstv.com/news/earthquake-shakes-etx

An earthquake measuring 3.9 shook parts of East Texas this morning, according to the National Weather Service. . . .

An eye witness from Nacogdoches, a city 24 miles away from the epicenter, says they felt the ground shake. . . .

Jason Hansford, Senior Meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Shreveport, tells KMSS that "the National Weather Service is not aware of any major fault lines across East Texas."

There are reports that fracking my have contributed to the small quake, however, Hansford says, "any reports of fracking as the cause of this earthquake is just speculation."

[RC]

1. Nothing to see here, move along now.

No smoking around the water faucets.

[TexCalIdaho]

2. prior to last week, there had been 9 earthquakes in the East Texas area

starroute stated:

"no previous earthquake activity in that area"

Rebuttal:

Since 1850 there have now been 11 earthquakes reported in East Texas with a magnitude of 3.0 or greater on the Richter Scale. (1)

The first recorded earthquake greater than 3.0 to hit East Texas occurred on January 9th 1891 in Rusk. This quake measured 4.0 on the Richter scale and reportedly caused significant damage in a few areas. (2)

(I don't think they were fracking back in the 19th century. )

The strongest recorded in the area was a 4.7 magnitude quake on March 19th 1957 northeast of Diana. A few windows were broken and much of northeast Texas felt this quake. (3)

1,2,3: http://www.kltv.com/story/18490450/history-shows-more-earthquakes-could-come-soon

[starroute]

3. Granted -- the map is only since 1990

So I should have said no previous earthquake activity in the past 22 years.

And as the news story I quoted says, no signs of any fault running through the area.