2724 earthquakes in seven years in Oklahoma. Where is the liquefaction?

April 9, 2018

Covington, Okla. -- Earthquakes (click here) are rattling part of northwest Oklahoma where more than a dozen temblors have struck since Friday. The U.S. Geological Survey recorded an earthquake of preliminary magnitude 4.3 at 5:22 a.m. Monday, nearly an hour after a magnitude 3.3 quake struck the area near Covington, about 55 miles north of Oklahoma City.

Garfield County Emergency Management Director Mike Honigsberg says there are no reports of injury or severe damage from any of the quakes, which have ranged in magnitude from 2.4 to 4.6. The magnitude 4.6 earthquake that shook Oklahoma on Saturday was also felt in neighboring Kansas and Missouri, according to the USGS. 

There have been 4 earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from 2.6 to 4.3 between Covington and Perry in northern Oklahoma in the past 24 hour. #okquake https://t.co/JwfpIrHgSb pic.twitter.com/qUsjjC7g7L

— USGS in Oklahoma (@USGS_Oklahoma) April 9, 2018

 Thousands of earthquakes have been recorded in Oklahoma in recent years, with many linked to the underground injection of wastewater from oil and natural gas production. State regulators have directed several oil and gas producers in the state to close injection wells or reduce volumes....

Oklahoma hasn't seen the worst of series of earthquakes yet. At least no rivers have been reported as having disappeared.

River Disappears in Costa Rico After Earthquake (14th July 2011 - click here)

River in Eastern Mexico Disappears Overnight, Experts Blame Sinkhole (click here)

September 25, 2010

The Iska River in Slovenia (click here) vanished overnight. Residents reported hearing loud crashing and drumming sounds during the night and woke up to find the river was gone. Fish were found flopping on the dry river bed. The river may have moved underground after a crack opened in the riverbed. However, no earthquake was reported. 

Regulations? Really? In Oklahoma? Amazing. The question demands an answer. When does a Republican majority state decide regulation is necessary? When the Republicans have disregarded scientific findings to prevent tragedy and the scientists were correct.

August 10, 201

...The state has been shaken by 448 magnitude-3.0 and greater (click here) quakes so far this year, down from the 558 it experienced in the same time frame in 2015, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey.

Increased regulation on wastewater disposal related to oil and gas extraction could be one reason behind the decline, said Robert Williams, a geophysicist at the United States Geological Survey. Wastewater disposal is linked to quakes in Oklahoma and other states.

Regulators this year increased restrictions limiting wastewater disposal and expanded the area in the state those constraints cover, Williams said. At the same time, a decrease in oil and gas activity led to a smaller volume of water being disposed of, also potentially contributing to fewer quakes, he added.

The extraction of oil and gas in hydraulic fracturing — also known as fracking — likely does not contribute to a rise in earthquakes, but wastewater disposal associated with the activity does, said Jefferson Chang, a geophysicist for the Oklahoma Geological Survey at the University of Oklahoma....

The current assault on Earth by the petroleum industry is taking it's toll. It is the method of horizontal drilling while dissolving rock causes permanent instability in the rock.

In 2016 there was enormous earthquake out of Oklahoma which affected many states all the way to Iowa. The question remains as to the long term impact of the "fracking" process.

September 3, 2016

Pawnee, Okla - A 5.6 magnitud.e earthquake (click here) centered near Pawnee, Oklahoma Saturday morning was felt in seven states, including Nebraska and Iowa.

The United States Geological Survey said the quake happened at 7:02 a.m. 70 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. Social media reports indicated several aftershocks throughout a large swath of the Great Plains from as far north as Little Sioux, Iowa down to northern Texas. It was also felt in Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas.

Betty Golmanavich of Omaha told WOWT 6 News the quake rattled her furniture and shook her home near 84th Street and West Center Road. "I was in my basement working on my computer and then all of the sudden my chair started rocking back and forth. I thought what the heck is going on. I’ve never felt anything like this. We were trying to figure out what was happening to us at first.”...

The December 3, 2016 earthquake cracked the North America craton. That created instability in the continent never before realized. The long term effects of fracking can go two ways, but, more than likely will be a combination of both.

When the Oklahoma quakes create liquefaction (quicksand/sinkhole) of the land it may isolate the effect on the craton. There should be every measure possible to end hydraulic fracturing. It introduces highly erosive chemicals that are also toxic to humans into the land. That introduction is permanent as the rock fractures and traps that water into the cracks it creates. The chemicals will continue to erode the land at thousands of feet deep until all the chemicals have reacted and there is no potential left.

There is no such thing as safe "fracking."