Earthquake Swarm in Arkansas Intensifies. Memphis, Tennessee could be epicenter for the next big one

reply to post by Disconinected Sociopath

I can't disagree with your last post.
I just hope that nothing big happens, but if it does, people are prepared, as you said.

reply to post by UtahRosebud


Please Fear Not. People here, from so. illinois, so. indiana down to Ark. we are river people here on these fault lines.. People who actually live on the fault lines We already know the power of Mighty Rivers that No One can Control. For anyone who lives in this area, we are not just a bunch of sheeple here. everybody in this area have heard every rumor and felt the earthquakes over the years. This activity is either from oil exploration or whatever but I have no doubt we can pull thru a mega quake like paratroopers and I am not being sarcastic.People here will take care of eachother.
Just stay away from St. Louis... thats a dangerous place on a regular day : )

Thu Feb 17, 9:45 am ET

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Jim Sutterfield was briefly puzzled by a thumping sound that seemed to slam the back of his office chair. But when the small-town Arkansas fire chief turned and saw no one was around, he quickly realized it was just an earthquake — again.

"That was only my second time to feel one, but others here have felt them for three or four months now," Greenbrier chief Jim Sutterfield said after feeling the latest tremor on Wednesday. "Now when it happens, people say, 'Well, there's another one.'"

Several small earthquakes ranging in magnitude from 1.8 to 3.8 have rattled the north-central Arkansas cities of Greenbrier and Guy this week, and the cause is unknown.

The U.S. Geological Survey has reported more than 30 earthquakes in the area since Sunday, including a magnitude 3.8 quake Thursday morning and at least 16 others occurring Wednesday, two of which were magnitude 3.2 and 3.5. More than 700 quakes have occurred in the region over the past six months.

Scott Ausbrooks, geohazards supervisor for the Arkansas Geological Survey, said the quakes are part of what is now called the Guy earthquake swarm — a series of mild earthquakes that have been occurring periodically since 2009. A similar swarm occurred in the early 1980s when a series of quakes hit Enola, Ark.

Ausbrooks said geologists are still trying to discover the exact cause of the recent seismic activity but have identified two possibilities.

"It could just be a naturally occurring swarm like the Enola swarm, or it could be related to ongoing natural gas exploration in the area," he said.

A major source of natural gas in Arkansas is the Fayetteville Shale, an organically-rich rock formation in north-central Arkansas. Drillers free up the gas by using hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" — injecting pressurized water to create fractures deep in the ground.

Ausbrooks said geologists don't believe the production wells are the problem, but rather the injection wells that are used to dispose of "frack" water when it can no longer be re-used. The wastewater is pressurized and injected into the ground.

"We see no correlation between natural gas production wells and earthquakes, but we haven't ruled out injection wells," he said, adding that if production wells were the cause, the earthquakes would be scattered all over the region underlain by the Fayetteville Shale formation and not in just one area.

Ausbrooks said the earthquakes are occurring in the vicinity of several injection wells.

Guy Police Chief Dave Martini said the locals continue to blame the gas companies for the quakes.

"We have a disposal well here just outside of the city," Martini said. "People are suspecting that to be causing it, even though there isn't any proof of that."

Martini said the earthquakes started increasing in frequency over the past week and that the disposal well has seen an increase in use recently.

Lawrence Bengal, director of the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission, said a six-month moratorium was established in January on new injection wells in the area. He said four companies are operating already-drilled injection wells: SEECO Inc., Chesapeake Operating Inc., Clarita Operating LLC and Deep-Six Water Disposal Services LLC.

The moratorium, which is expected to end in July, is intended to allow time to study the relationship — if any — between the injection wells and earthquakes in the area.

The largest quake of the Guy Earthquake Swarm was a magnitude 4.0, which occurred in October, Ausbrooks said. The region could possibly see quakes reaching as high as 5.0, but he said anything above 6.0 is unlikely.

The magnitude scale for earthquakes is logarithmic, meaning a magnitude 3 earthquake would produce waves with amplitudes 10 times greater than a magnitude 2 and 100 times greater than a magnitude 1. Geologists say quakes of magnitude 2.5 to 3.0 are generally the smallest felt by humans.

"These periods of high activity are not uncommon. I don't think it's anything to be overly concerned about," Ausbrooks said. "We always encourage people to keep tuned in to what's going on and to always have an all-hazards disaster preparedness kit."

news.yahoo.com...

Originally posted by butcherguy
reply to post by Disconnected Sociopath

 

So you don't think that pumping millions of gallons of water treated with chemicals that are added to promote lubrication can affect the slippage of massive slabs of rock? Water alone can do it. It was cited decades ago after studies showed that man-made reservoirs in India caused EQ's due to water that was pushed into faults.
I believe that fracking and state governments allowing it are extremely bad policy in more ways than one.

edit on 17-2-2011 by butcherguy because: spelling

Ding, ding, ding. Give the man a prize. This is a seismic area that is being lubricated very quickly and you see what results.

reply to post by Spectral Norm


Any idea what the well status is? I am assuming PA is production, DA is disposal, EX is Exploratory(?), UN Unsuccessful?

No idea on the rest.

reply to post by Human_Alien
I am a little bothered by the quotes in the Yahoo story, saying that the production wells are not a problem. Seems as though they want to push the blame on the waste injection wells.

If public opinion can be pushed to look at injection wells as the 'bad guy', the drillers can switch to evaporation ponds or treatment plants to deal with the wastewater, and go right on fracking.

To say that the production wells are not a problem is a lie. The water is pumped into the production wells when they are initially drilled, at much higher pressures than the injection wells. The hjgher pressures are needed to fracture the rock. All of the water (and chemicals) does not come back to the surface when the fracking is completed.
Thanks H/A for putting that up.

Ausbrooks said geologists don't believe the production wells are the problem, but rather the injection wells that are used to dispose of "frack" water when it can no longer be re-used. The wastewater is pressurized and injected into the ground.

"We see no correlation between natural gas production wells and earthquakes, but we haven't ruled out injection wells," he said, adding that if production wells were the cause, the earthquakes would be scattered all over the region underlain by the Fayetteville Shale formation and not in just one area.

Source

So, let me get this straight Mr Ausbrooks. There is no problem with the production wells which 'inject' fracking fluid, but there is a problem with the disposal wells where they 'inject' fluid. I understand.

And also Mr Ausbrooks, do I take it from your statement that ALL of the waste fracking fluid from the whole of the Fayetteville Shale is being disposed of at Guy? Nothing is being disposed of elsewhere?

Would it not be reasonable to conclude, if that is the case that the cessation of disposal for 6 months would prove the point one way or the other?

Alternative: what he actually said was "Geologists don't believe. The production wells are the problem."

Originally posted by Robin Marks
Let me start by saying the I am a writer first. Which means I am unable to post cool graphics. The best I can do is give you links. I hope the folks from QuakeWatch and Yellowstone follow me here and give me a hand.

I am warning the people of the Mississipii River Valley that a big one may be near. Earthquake activity in Arkansas is gone past the realm of curiousity and is now a real concern. I'll just start with some links to show you the history of quakes in the area over the last year. I've been talking about this on the QuakeWatch thread so I will be directing you there for more research.

As I write, the quakes are ongoing and there seems to be no end to the lastest flurry. In my next post I'll provide links. I must now go look at the new quakes and try to examine them.

Please take this seriously. I am. I've been focused on Arkansas over the last few months and this is not a knee-jerk reaction. I wouldn't be sticking this out there if I thought I was just being an alarmist without a clause.

It's real. Have a look for yourself.

Here's the current webicorder.

www.iris.edu...

Here's yesterday's.

www.iris.edu...

Here's the list of posted quakes. There's lots of little ones not yet posted.

earthquake.usgs.gov...

Robin,

I live just a few miles from the epicenter of the Arkansas quakes. I have done extensive research into them, mostly out of concern and an attitude of preparedness (I am originally from San Jose, CA...does that say enough? ) Earthquakes in this locale are not new. In fact, there is a history of these "swarm quakes" going back several decades. That being said, there is still no concrete explanation as to WHY the quakes are occurring. Previously, this area was not thought to have any serious fault lines. Since the increase in quake activity over the past 6 months, this theory is being reviewed. In fact, I have heard "rumors" from the USGS that this area may, in fact, be a whole new tectonic plate boundary that is NOT relative or connected to the New Madrid fault. I have not yet heard if this "rumor" can be confirmed...

reply to post by PuterMan


Actually, PA is Plugged and Abandoned. DA is Dry and abandoned. EX is for Permit expired. There is a list of the codes here

Hmmmm..this relative silence for the past couple of hours is a bit worrisome. That is what is has been doing before the larger quakes the past couple of days. Hopefully it will just stay this way this time though!


EDIT to update: I spoke to soon...about a 2.0 coming across now.

If you want to see the quakes in near real time,download equake3d.It puts this spinning globe on your computer.I was amazed at how many little quakes that show up in Arkansa and at the same place.
It's pretty cool.

reply to post by kdog1982


I just took a look at that app and it is interesting. Do you have any idea where it is pulling data from and how often? Either way, thanks for sharing that. My 12 year old daughter thinks it is 'Cool', IHO.

Originally posted by MRuss
I hate to break up the party here....

But

I can't imagine the fear the people that live in this region must be feeling when they read your posts. People have families and jobs and homes and lives.

I'm getting that you are well studied and versed in this area, so I'm really not disagreeing with you here. I know nothing of these matters.

But I do know what having a family means. And before you urge people to pack up the Uhaul and hit the road... I just want to ask..

On a scale of 10-----how sure are you about this---- 10 being the most certain?

And are you able to provide any of these fearful people with some sort of a time line for this disaster?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

edit on 17-2-2011 by MRuss because: added two words

I had to stop when I read your post. Because if anyone is responsible for ringing the alarm bells, It's me. And I have struggled with the thought that I may needlessly be frightening people. I have kids. So I understand what makes a parent tick.

And after I reflect and question myself, I still come up with the same answer. I had to write this thread. The disaster has already started. The contamination has already started. In this case, I am telling the residents that they have termites in your house and they've already undermined the frame so much that the house is standing, but for how long. The fracking and injection is shaking your houses from their foundations. If the fracking was to stop immediately, there would be a chance to pull back from the abyss. But that ain't going to happen. The instensity of drilling is only expanding and with all the money being made, even resident who suffer with the problems don't want it to stop. Just like the fisherman in Lousiana that lost business due to the oil spill, but when asked if the wanted the off shore drilling to stop, they said no way. They need the income from the oil industry. Everyone of them had a relative or friend that worked on the rigs.

I don't know an exact timeline. I've got some ideas, but it's really mother nature's call. All I know is that the rate of fracking will cause severe problems. Even if there is no earthquake. Arkansas is being poisioned. Along with all the other states where fracking is popping up like bad mushrooms.

If the citizens of Arkansas kicked the gas boys out on their butts, there is still damage and consequences yet to be realized. This is a slow motion disaster that started when the oil boys won the WhiteHouse and changed the laws.

It was a coup. And nobody noticed. The oil boys run the show.

reply to post by lasertaglover

It says from the usgs I do believe.

reply to post by kdog1982


LOL, ok so I just pulled my daughter off of it, that was hard (she loves clicking stuff) and the USGS button that is on it takes you to their page. I still wonder how long it takes to get new data uploaded.

A couple of long, low-grade sustained rumbles coming across GEE. So far, one of them showed up on Iris:

LINK

I have NO idea what this means....because we aren't talking about a volcano here. (If we were, Id be more suspicous)

Just two small quakes really close together?

reply to post by Disconnected Sociopath


I checked out the various headlines and stories on yahoo, and am least glad they are making MSM news.

However, I hated when the one seismologist tried to downplay it ( as they usually do and stated that there won't be anything over a mag 6.0 major quake in the future....

how would he know that?

Utter ignorance....this is going to be the "we gotta keep'em all calm" period in the MSM.....

they HAVE to report the news on the quakes, cuz otherwise we'd all find out through text msg, twitter, Facebook, etc...

but they will totally downplay it until the end

reply to post by PuterMan

It will take a bit of time to find my hard copy data- I have different sources than official ones. Be patient. I forgot to mention something else in my post above- all of the oil & gas companies that are presently drilling in the Yellowstone area- & setting off some of the numerous quakes there as well. One more reason to take official data with a grain of salt! The park tourist board wants to keep visitors coming & spending money no matter what; & the oil companies aren't about to stop drilling & making money at any cost. The Gulf oil disaster is a glaring example. Such people don't want data given out to the public that could jeopardise their income, & they see to it that numbers in some kinds of official reports get "massaged" accordingly.

Originally posted by westcoast
A couple of long, low-grade sustained rumbles coming across GEE. So far, one of them showed up on Iris:

LINK

I have NO idea what this means....because we aren't talking about a volcano here. (If we were, Id be more suspicous)

Just two small quakes really close together?

edit on 17-2-2011 by westcoast because: (no reason given)

It's doing it again right now. I'll post a screen shot when it is done. Going on four minutes now...

Ug...big one. Probably at least 3.5

hold on...

Edit: Sorry, meant to edit my previous post, not make a new one. Here is a shot of the 4minute rumble before that quake...a bit eerie:

(all the way to the right)





Followed by the quake: