“The Shaking” is very real – Oklahoma hit with 70 quakes in a week

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       Oklahoma hit with 70 quakes in a week

A swarm of more than 70 small earthquakes has rattled Oklahoma in the past week, raising concerns that the state’s quake problem is getting worse.

The largest quake measured magnitude-4.8 and struck around midnight Wednesday near the town of Fairview. No significant damage has been reported, although it shook pictures and crockery.

“It was felt all over the county, pretty much all over the state,” Major County Undersherrif Darin Reams said. “This one rattled a little bit.”

Smaller quakes continued Thursday.

Oklahoma in 2014 had at least 5,415 earthquakes; 585 of them were magnitude-3 or greater. In comparison, the state had just 109 magnitude-3 quakes in 2013, according to the Oklahoma Geologic Survey. Statistics for 2015 are still being compiled.

A state report last year noted a connection between hydraulic fracturing and some earthquake “swarms,” and state officials say there’s a potential risk to the public due to the increase in quakes. Experts say the quakes are likely being caused by injection wells, which are particularly deep wells into which drilling byproducts and wastewater are injected, rather than wells drilled to extract oil or gas.

“The OGS considers it very likely that the majority of recent earthquakes, particularly those in central and north-central Oklahoma, are triggered by the injection of produced water in disposal wells,” the agency said…..More

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