By JOSELYN GONZALES
Student Reporter
In the past three to five years, there have been more earthquakes recorded than before in Oklahoma.
On Sept 13, the United States Geological Survey recorded three earthquakes in northern Oklahoma. The first was reported at 3:55 a.m., a 3.5 magnitude, and was located 13 miles southeast of Medford. The second was at 11:55 a.m., a 3.5 16 miles southwest of Perry, and the third was at 3 p.m.; it was a 3.3 magnitude quake 16 miles southwest of Perry.
Earthquakes happen when rock strata and layers of the sediment beneath Earth’s crust are under stress and strain. Northwestern Professor Steven Maier, chair of the department of natural science, said, “Earthquakes occur when the stress exceeds what the rock strata and sediment can withstand. It’s a natural process, but it’s a process the recent studies indicate (can) be pre-empted or induced by human activity to exceed the normal background rate.” Areas that are more prone to earthquakes are areas that are close to fault lines, which are where the earth breaks.
Some are pointing fingers, saying the earthquakes are due to the fracking the oil companies are doing. Hydraulic fracturing, usually referred to as “fracking,” is an oil and gas well development process that typically involves injecting water, sand and chemicals under high pressure into a bedrock formation via the well.
Maier said that he believes the earthquakes are due to the earth’s shifting, “Significant earthquakes like your magnitudes of 6 and higher, I don’t necessarily think that is something that is a direct cause due to the oil drilling.” But the quakes Oklahoma has been experiencing are either 3 or 4 in magnitude, making some wonder whether fracking is causing them. Oklahoma wouldn’t normally have earthquakes that are 1 to 4 in magnitude.
Earthquakes have been happening all over Oklahoma in clusters. People have felt them all the way from northern Oklahoma to southern Oklahoma.
Medford resident Irma Gonzales said, “I was watching TV when all of a sudden the TV started shaking like if someone had ran into the house. I went outside to where my husband was and said, ‘Did you feel that?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, I saw the house shaking.” She said it lasted 10 to 15 seconds.
The earthquakes have been getting a lot of media attention, since they have caused some damage. At St. Gregory’s University in Shawnee, a 5.6 magnitude quake damaged Benedicitine Hall; it also damaged a few homes in Shawnee.
It can’t be said for sure whether fracking is the cause, but from 1990 to 2008 Oklahoma only had a few earthquakes a year. From 2009 to now that number has shot up to almost triple the amount of earth quakes.