Oklahoma Earthquakes: Weekend Swarm Produces State's Strongest Quakes of 2014

March 30,2014

 

 

 

 

This map from the U.S. Geological Survey shows two clusters of earthquakes that struck central Oklahoma Saturday and early Sunday, March 29-30, 2014 (orange), along with previous earthquakes in the past week (yellow). The stronger and more numerous earthquakes took place in the northern cluster, near Crescent. A smaller cluster of earthquakes took place just east of Oklahoma City, near Choctaw.

A swarm of earthquakes began in central Oklahoma Saturday and continued Sunday, producing the state's strongest quakes so far in 2014, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The primary swarm of earthquakes was centered in northwestern Logan County and northeastern Kingfisher County, about 12 miles north of Crescent, or about 46 miles north of Oklahoma City.
In that cluster, the USGS recorded 11 earthquakes ranging in magnitude from 2.7 to 4.5 between 10 p.m. CDT Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday.
A magnitude-4.5 jolt at 9:09 a.m. CDT Sunday became the state's strongest earthquake so far in 2014. Earlier in the swarm, two earthquakes measuring 4.3 on the moment magnitude scale had been the strongest earthquakes so far this year in Oklahoma, eclipsing a 4.1 jolt centered near Langston on Feb. 8. Those quakes occurred at 1:51 a.m. and 3:42 a.m. Sunday.
All three of the strongest tremors were felt across a wide area. The "Did You Feel It?" section of the USGS website received reports of shaking as far north as the Kansas City metropolitan area and as far south as Norman, Okla. Vibrations were also felt as far east as the Tulsa area from all three incidents.
A separate cluster of earthquakes occurred near Choctaw, an eastern suburb of Oklahoma City, on Saturday and Saturday night. Six earthquakes ranging in magnitude from 2.4 to 3.7 were reported between 1 a.m. CDT Saturday and 1 a.m. CDT Sunday. The strongest temblor occurred at 10:08 p.m. Saturday and was felt across much of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.
Earlier this month, a study confirmed that Oklahoma's strongest recent earthquake, a damaging magnitude-5.7 quake in 2011 near Prague, was caused by wastewater injection related to hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, a method of gas and oil extraction.
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Evacuated people remain on the sidewalk after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake shook Mexico City on Aug. 21, 2013. (Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images)