Oklahoma earthquake and fracking

[safeinOhio]

http://global.christianpost.com/news/oklahoma-earthquake-big-quake-due-to-new-madrid-fault-and-fracking-60678/

The quakes have been attributed, but not confirmed, to the New Madrid fault line, which has become more volatile in recent years. The New Madrid fault zone covers portions of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi. The zone is 6 times bigger than the San Andreas fault in California.
According to the Oklahoma Geological Survey by Austin Holland which was published recently, fracking is one of the causes for earthquakes. When you inject the earth with saltwater to break up the shale beneath the earth, there is instability created in the crust which results in sudden and extreme movement. This means the earth sinks a bit where fracking has occurred.

[classof56]

1. Now that is scary!

I was pretty sure it wasn't some sort of manifestation of God's judgment on the state where I was born--they're a pretty righteous bunch there, but didn't think about fracking until you posted this. I wish all my OK relatives well. Stay safe!

Oh, and I'm joking about the God's judgment part. Figured out long ago, that's not the way things work among true believers, whether they think so or not.

Peace.

[kristopher]

2. Holland's report

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Fracking-quake.pdf

[jberryhill]

3. Not a single county for Obama in 2008. Clearly God's punishment /nt

[bahrbearian]

4. Just a part of doing business

the gas companies are just retrieving their assets.

[Coyote_Bandit]

5. Two Things

(1) The New Madrid fault line is in the bootheel of Missouri - several hundred miles away from the earthquakes that have ben occurring in Oklahoma the last couple of days. To be sure a big quake on the New Madrid would likely be felt in Oklahoma - but there is not a fault line that connects the two areas. Matter of fact the two locations are geographically separated by a couple of moutain ranges.

(2) The quakes that have been occurring the last couple of days have been on a known fault line. I believe it is called the Meers fault line.



Yes, fracking is evil nasty stuff that can cause earethquakes and contaminate groundwater. But given the fact that these quakes are occurring on a known fault line it would be almost impossible to say that fracking is responsible for these particular quakes.

[Beartracks]

6. Fracking can facilitate quakes, if not necessarily cause them

I'd read somewhere that fracking can cause instability by expanding fissures, making it in essence "easier" for earthquakes to occur.

The OK Geological Survey report by Austin Holland (link in Post #2 of this thread) was generated in response to seismic activity in Garvin County in central Oklahoma earlier this year, about 80 miles SSW of Lincoln County where the quakes occurred last weekend. Yes, these areas are not anywhere near or connected to the New Madrid fault line, but Garvin County is on the Meers fault line, as you noted, and is home to fracking in the Eola natural gas fields.

Lincoln County, where the earthquakes occurred a few days ago, is apparently on the Seminole Uplift, or Wilzetta fault. Don't know about fracking there, but the Eola report makes me wonder about the possibility. There are oil and gas fields near the northern end of the Seminole Uplift, I think, towards Bristow.

Anyhow, for me, the most telling bit in the summary of the OGS report pertaining to Eola is the following sentence: "About seven hours after the first and deepest hydraulic fracturing stage started the earthquakes began occurring."

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