Is A Massive Earthquake Inevitable In Oklahoma?
by Adny Tully via OilPrice.com,
ZeroHedge.com
01/11/2016
When Americans speak of “the big one,” they’re talking about the potential for a super-massive earthquake that could essentially destroy most of quake-prone California. Now some scientists believe something similar could happen in the once geologically placid Oklahoma.
Oklahoma was shaken late Wednesday night by two of the strongest earthquakes to hit the state in recent years, the latest in a series of temblors that many researchers believe are caused by the burial of wastes from oil and gas drilling in the state.
The quakes struck 30 seconds apart and had magnitudes of 4.7 and 4.8 on the Richter scale. While considered light, both were centered directly beneath a region in northwestern part of the state near Fairview, Oklahoma, that produces significant amounts of oil and gas. The second temblor was the fourth-largest ever recorded in Oklahoma.
No injuries or damages were reported from Wednesday night’s quakes, but smaller events last week struck near Oklahoma City, shaking bricks from building facades, felled columns and caused a power blackout in suburban Edmond.
These and other recent earthquakes could be precursors to a much larger, more damaging event, according to some scientists.
“I do think there’s a really strong chance that Oklahoma will receive some strong shaking,” said Daniel McNamara, a research geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado, who has studied Oklahoma’s earthquake history. “I’m surprised [Wednesday night’s quakes] didn’t rupture into a larger event.”
The Rest…HERE
