2014 Oklahoma Earthquake Discussion

[venture]

Looks like there were about 5 foreshocks during the hour before the larger quake.

[venture]

Prelim 4.0 this evening...

[SoonerDave]

Prelim 4.0 this evening...

I can't decide if these multiple smaller tremors are a pressure release that will prevent a bigger one later, or are a precursor to a bigger one later LOL

[Plutonic Panda]

Holy sh*t that one woke me me up they're getting bigger

[crimsoncrazy]

Felt a boom and my desk shook at work. I-40 and Morgan.

[Richard at Remax]

pretty good shake up in east Edmond just now

[Bunty]

There certainly was one in Stillwater at 6:16 pm on Friday. It was 3.2M, centered 6 mi. NE of Stillwater. It sounded more like distant thunder than an explosive noise. It lasted for about a second. I barely felt it, but made my house go creak, like it does from a high wind gust.

[Dustin]

So evidently there was a quake in Choctaw about an hour or two ago. I usually feel them, but my home was quiet this time.

It was a 3.7.

[Bunty]

Additional weekend quakes have ranged up to 4.3M near Crescent as of early Sunday morning.

[PennyQuilts]

@KOCOBrad: I'm concerned that these quakes getting stronger near Crescent are foreshocks to something larger today. Review earthquake safety.

Okay. What's up with this? Got that off twitter.

[Bunty]

Okay. What's up with this? Got that off twitter.

Whatever, his comment reflects that weekend quakes now top out at 4.4M near Crescent as of late Sunday morning. Thank goodness, this cluster of quakes aren't centered near a larger town.

http://www.news9.com/story/25109911/...shake-oklahoma

[venture]

Whatever, his comment reflects that weekend quakes now top out at 4.4M near Crescent as of late Sunday morning. Thank goodness, this cluster of quakes aren't centered near a larger town.

Dozen Oklahoma Earthquakes And Counting, 4.4 Largest Magnitude - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports |

Most of these aren't doing anything more than rattling a few pictures on the wall. It is interesting to see that the 4.4 wasn't really felt over a wide area as usually is the case for most 4.0 or higher quakes.

The table at the top has been updated. March has been slower than February - but still a day to go.

[Bunty]

Most of these aren't doing anything more than rattling a few pictures on the wall. It is interesting to see that the 4.4 wasn't really felt over a wide area as usually is the case for most 4.0 or higher quakes.

It's been slightly upgraded to 4.5.

[jn1780]

Okay. What's up with this? Got that off twitter.

I think Brad needs to stick to meterology.

[Bunty]

Stillwater had a baby earthquake, 2.3, 1 mile east of town at 4:43 pm today, 3/31. But it was enough to hear distant thunder and make my house give off a small creaking noise. Three others elsewhere. Recent Oklahoma Earthquakes

OOPS, another quake just happened at 5:35pm. It was more startling. I bet it went over 3.0.

UPDATE: Nope, not a 3.0+. OGS puts it at 2.6 at two miles SSE. Anyway, those baby quakes definitely make an impression when they're almost centered under you.

[Bunty]

Two late Monday afternoon quakes pinpointed in the Stillwater area on 3/31/14. The weaker one was within the city limits east of the cemetery. (Another one happened in about the same location earlier this year.) The stronger one happened almost in city limits. That quake happens to be not far from where successful oil drilling has been going on for about the past year. I don't know if it's associated with waste water injection wells.

[Plutonic Panda]

4.2 in Crescent

USGS Reports 4.2 Earthquake Near Crescent - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports |

[Just the facts]

Congrats - Oklahoma earthquakes made the Drudge Headline.

DRUDGE REPORT 2014®

Oklahoma recorded 278 earthquakes from 2008 through 2013 that have registered on the Richter scale at a magnitude of 3.0 or greater, a level that can shake objects inside a home.

Before that, from 1975-2008, the state on average recorded less than six earthquakes a year.

[Plutonic Panda]

That's pretty crazy. There are a few reasons that could be, fracking could be one of them, but I'm still not convinced.

[ljbab728]

And one of the reasons is "earthquakes happen". LOL

[Plutonic Panda]

And one of the reasons is "earthquakes happen". LOL

yeah, that to.

[Bunty]

Here are some reassuring words from a Tulsa geologist when questioned soon after the 2011, 5.6 quake. I hope he still feels the same way:

Dr. Bryan Tapp is a structural geologist at the University of Tulsa; basically he studies how rocks move beneath the earth's crust. He says Oklahoma has small earthquakes every day.

"We are still under a region that is trying to shift, but it is relatively slow," said Dr. Bryan Tapp, Ph.D.

Dr. Tapp says you can blame this on events that first happened 300 million years ago. He says when the Wichita, Arbuckle, and Ouachita Mountains were formed, the ground rose up. But just north of the Wichita and Ouachita Mountains the ground sunk and formed the Anadarko and Arkoma basins.

This action caused a fault line to form between the two basins, that fault line is where the epicenter to these large earthquakes is located. He says the earth is still trying to relieve pressure from those long ago geologic events.

"So we just seem to be relaxing, just slightly, over time," he said.

One thing he's positive of: this mess was not caused by fracking.

"There's no way that this particular fault or this particular earthquake could have been activated by oil field activity; there's just no evidence of that," said Dr. Bryan Tapp, a structural geologist.

Dr. Tapp says we can expect some more earthquakes in the future but probably around the magnitude 3 range.

He would be surprised if we see another over five and is confident that we are not gearing up for the "big one."

Excerpted from http://www.newson6.com/story/1597163...ma-earthquakes

[venture]

Prelim 4.0 3 S of Langston just before 10AM...

[Urbanized]

Prelim 4.0 3 S of Langston just before 10AM...

Felt it in downtown OKC.

[Dennis Heaton]