3 Dozen Quakes Shake Arkansas —in Week

[longknife]

Experts can't rule out fracking connection
By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

(Newser) – Fracking is in the spotlight once again following a swarm of at least three dozen earthquakes in central Arkansas over the last week, CNN reports. Experts say they believe the quakes—the strongest of which was 3.5 magnitude—are natural, but they haven't ruled out a connection with natural gas exploration involving hydraulic fracturing in the region. Though two dozen of the quakes have hit near Morrilton, Arkansas, four different areas in the state saw activity.

Read more @ 3 Dozen Quakes Shake Arkansas ?in Week - Experts can't rule out fracking connection

The anti-fracking crowd will leap all over this.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

That doesn't sound good. I hope there isn't going to be a major earthquake soon. The country is still reeling from the latest disasters.

 

[freedombecki]

Experts can't rule out fracking connection
By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

(Newser) – Fracking is in the spotlight once again following a swarm of at least three dozen earthquakes in central Arkansas over the last week, CNN reports. Experts say they believe the quakes—the strongest of which was 3.5 magnitude—are natural, but they haven't ruled out a connection with natural gas exploration involving hydraulic fracturing in the region. Though two dozen of the quakes have hit near Morrilton, Arkansas, four different areas in the state saw activity.

Read more @ 3 Dozen Quakes Shake Arkansas ?in Week - Experts can't rule out fracking connection

The anti-fracking crowd will leap all over this.

If they had a nose for history, they would know that every couple of hundred years, that area has an earthquake capable of creating a cliff from flat lands. The last one was in the mid- to late-1800s as I recollect from reading a history of earthquakes in the US. Where it hit was more or less a wilderness. The reason was probably that the Indian folklore told them not to get too cozy in unstable regions because they could swallow villages.

Here's the map of problem areas, and the green areas are those in which you can expect 6.0 richter scale temblors every hundred years or so, up to the pink/red areas in which anything goes. Map Credit, USGS

 

[waltky]

Granny says is one o' dem earthquakes in diverse places like it says inna Bible...

Arkansas Quake Swarms Rattle Nerves, Raise Questions
May 26, 2013 — Three dozen earthquakes over the past week in central Arkansas shook shelves, rattled nerves and prompted speculation about their cause.

“Are they being being triggered or are they natural? That’s something we don’t know,” Arkansas Geological Survey scientist Scott Ausbrook said Sunday. The chances of so many temblors in the region in such a short time are “Powerball kind of odds,” Ausbrook said. “What was unusual was to have four different areas in the state to be active in the same week.”

More than two dozen quakes recorded since Wednesday have been centered north of Morrilton, Arkansas. The strongest, on Wednesday and Thursday nights, had reported magnitudes of 3.5 and 3.4. “Right now all we’ve gotten reports of is shaking stuff and rattling shelves, but people are definitely noticing them,” Ausbrook said.

Solving the mystery is important because of suspicion the quakes could be related to natural gas exploration nearby using hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, he said. “The best probability at this point is they are natural, but we can’t rule out the possibility that there may be a relationship,” Ausbrook said.

A swarm of hundreds of earthquakes centered near Guy, Arkansas, ended two years ago after state regulators imposed a moratorium on new injection wells in the area. Two operating injection wells, just outside of the moratorium area, are about 8 miles from some of the quakes. “I can’t say at this time there’s not a connection, but given the distance from those wells, it would be pretty amazing,” Ausbrook said. One natural explanation would be a fault running through the area that makes a sharp turn, where “you would expect more strain to accumulate,” Ausbrook said.

Arkansas Quake Swarms Rattle Nerves, Raise Questions | kplr11.com

 

[freedombecki]

There were earthquakes in the region before that, even. I found this:

1811, December 16, 08:15 UTC Northeast Arkansas - the first main shock
2:15 am local time
Magnitude ~7.7
This powerful earthquake was felt widely over the entire eastern United States. People were awakened by the shaking in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Charleston, South Carolina. Perceptible ground shaking was in the range of one to three minutes depending upon the observers location. The ground motions were described as most alarming and frightening in places like Nashville, Tennessee, and Louisville, Kentucky. Reports also describe houses and other structures being severely shaken with many chimneys knocked down. In the epicentral area the ground surface was described as in great convulsion with sand and water ejected tens of feet into the air (liquefaction).
1811, December 16, 13:15 UTC Northeast Arkansas - the "Dawn" Aftershock
7:15 am local time
Magnitude ~7.0

A large event felt on the East Coast that is sometimes regarded as the fourth principal earthquake of the 1811-1812 sequence. The event is described as "severe" at New Bourbon, Missouri, and was described by boatman John Bradbury, who was moored to a small island south of New Madrid, as "terrible, but not equal to the first". Hough believes that this large aftershock occurred around dawn in the New Madrid region near the surface projection of the Reelfoot fault.
1812, January 23, 15:15 UTC, New Madrid, Missouri
9:15 am local time,
Magnitude ~7.5

The second principal shock of the 1811-1812 sequence. It is difficult to assign intensities to the principal shocks that occurred after 1811 because many of the published accounts describe the cumulative effects of all the earthquakes and because the Ohio River was iced over, so there was little river traffic and fewer human observers. Using the December 16 earthquake as a standard, however, there is a general consensus that this earthquake was the smallest of the three principals. The meizoseismal area was characterized by general ground warping, ejections, fissuring, severe landslides, and caving of stream banks.
1812, February 7, 09:45 UTC, New Madrid, Missouri
3:45 am local time,
Magnitude ~7.7

The third principal earthquake of the 1811-1812 series. Several destructive shocks occurred on February 7, the last of which equaled or surpassed the magnitude of any previous event. The town of New Madrid was destroyed. At St. Louis, many houses were damaged severely and their chimneys were thrown down. The meizoseismal area was characterized by general ground warping, ejections, fissuring, severe landslides, and caving of stream banks.
Abridged from Seismicity of the United States, 1568-1989 (Revised), by Carl W. Stover and Jerry L. Coffman, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1527, United States Government Printing Office, Washington: 1993; Johnston, A.C., and Schweig, E.S., 1996, The enigma of the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812: Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, v. 24, p. 339-384; doi: 10.1146/annurev.earth.24.1.339;Hough, S.E., 2009, Cataloging the 1811-1812 New Madrid, Central U.S., Earthquake Sequence, Seismological Research Letters V. 80, No. 6, p 1045-1053 /doi: 10.1785/gssrl.80.6.1045.

​

I don't know why I thought pictures I saw were from the 1860s. Maybe it was a different earthquake series that the above, which is found at USGS page here

The region has a history of earthquakes that are not connected in any way to "fracking," which is a new kid on the block.

 

[longknife]

But all your FACTS won't stop the left and greenies from blaming fracking!!!

 

[t_polkow]

But all your FACTS won't stop the left and greenies from blaming fracking!!!

Where is the baby jesus in all of this? it is after all jesusland!

 

[Mr. H.]

When in doubt, blame it on the hydrocarbon industries.
Works every time.

 

[skookerasbil]

When in doubt, blame it on the hydrocarbon industries.
Works every time.

yeah....and anyways, these people get hysterical over everything. Some people have it in their dna. There is a whole segment of the population, albeit small, that gets all fucked up unless there is something to get hysterical about all the time. People like Rolling Blunder and Mammooth fit the mold exactly.