© Brian Corn The Wichita Eagle
Fallen bricks were discovered Monday on a sidewalk in the 100 block of South Washington. The bricks fell from above a vehicle entrance to the building. Some are wondering whether the damage is the result of a magnitude-4.7 earthquake that happened early Monday. (Nov. 30, 2015)
Fallen bricks were discovered Monday on a sidewalk in the 100 block of South Washington. The bricks fell from above a vehicle entrance to the building. Some are wondering whether the damage is the result of a magnitude-4.7 earthquake that happened early Monday. (Nov. 30, 2015)
Oklahoma has become one of the most earthquake-prone areas in the world, with the number of quakes of magnitude 3.0 or higher skyrocketing from a few dozen in 2012 to more than 720 so far this year. Many of the earthquakes occur in swarms in areas where injection wells pump salty wastewater - a byproduct of oil and gas production - deep into the Earth.
"It lasted for several seconds, but it's hard to tell when you just wake up," resident Frankie Robbins said of the 4.7 temblor that hit before 4 a.m. on Monday about 16 miles from his home in Medford, which is about 80 miles south-southwest of Wichita.
The shaking was felt in Wichita as well.
Dozens of bricks fell from above the doorway to a 75-year-old building on Washington just south of Douglas early Monday, and the owners of the building say the earthquake may have caused or contributed to the damage.
Comment: US Geological Survey statistics show that 40% of all major earthquakes located in the lower 48 states have occurred in Oklahoma this year. Cushing in Oklahoma is home to the largest commercial crude oil storage center in North America, and is dotted with hundreds of airplane hangar-sized tanks that hold an estimated 54 million barrels of oil. These tanks were built to national standards that account for some shaking, but they weren't constructed with serious earthquakes in mind, which is causing concern to Homeland Security according to Daniel McNamara, a USGS research geophysicist.
See also: A disaster waiting to happen in Oklahoma? The link between fracking and earthquakes is causing alarm in a town where oil storage is 'booming'
Seismic activity in the Oklahoma area over the past couple of months include:
- USGS: 4.7 magnitude earthquake strikes Oklahoma
- Seven earthquakes in seven hours shake Oklahoma-Kansas border area
- Multiple earthquakes registered in Oklahoma
There is growing evidence that fracking and earthquakes are linked: