What is causing the earthquakes in Wichita, Kansas today?

Hadn’t heard about that. Scary though, I have two nieces and a grand nephew in Kansas. And you and you’re family are there as well. Oh yeah, do I have a sister there? Hmmmm…oh uh, I don’t know. Never knew that as quake country. Tornado alley yeah, but quakes? Does the USGS have a web site? Maybe you could check them for info. Just speculating.

Or maybe it’s USGA? Don’t recall if it’s Geological Agency or Geological Service.

Never had an earthquake until about 10 years ago. They’re manmade quakes.
I did check the USGS. They just list date, time location and intensity. It doesn’t list a cause.

Seems like you’d be able to find info some where. Maybe a state university?

Are you guys near the New Madrid fault, or is that just Missouri?

That’s just Missouri. A major earthquake hit in New Madrid in 1836 or something. It was like an 8.5. As far as I know they’ve never had another.

Yeah they say the Mississippi River flowed backwards for a while when that went down. Nature can some spooky stuff sometimes.

Well it isn’t just Missouri. The New Madrid Fault also runs into northeast Arkansas and, to a small extent, Tennessee. But it’s also part of a broader seismic zone that extends across Missouri, western Kentucky, western Tennessee, southern Illinois and into southwest Indiana. The region basically lies over a weak spot in the lithosphere thought to have formed 750 million years ago.

@Dutchess I would like to hear what you find out, if possible.

Ever hear of reelfoot lake? It was formed during the New Madrid quakes for perspective on how big this event was. If that happened now it would be catastrophic. We get small quakes all the time in east Tennessee. I felt two this year alone. There is no “cause” other than we live on a seismic zone. There are other seismic zones in the U.S.

We are no where near the Mississippi river.

I know this sounds paranoid….but I wonder if trump has authorized some last minute, illegal drilling to squeeze every last dime out of the oil around Wichita before he goes to jail…..

@Dutchess_lll The Humboldt Fault runs right through Kansas.

I looked up the Humboldt fault. “The Humboldt Fault or Humboldt Fault Zone, is a normal fault or series of faults, that extends from Nebraska southwestwardly through most of Kansas. Kansas is not particularly earthquake prone, ranking 45th out of 50 states by damage caused.” It’s a minor fault. In the 50 years I’ve lived here we never had an earthquake, until about 10 years ago. When the fracking started.
They’ve been having earthquakes in Wichita all week. there were six just yesterday.

The thing with faults is that they can be “quiet” for a long time, then suddenly spring to activity (even a lot of activity in a short period of time) and then go “quiet” again.

Not saying that fracking did or did not have anything to do with it, but you can’t rule out the possibility that it’s simply that same naturally occurring plate tectonics that have been going on since the Earth solidified.

Fracking is known to push existing, shallow faults into more activity.

Exactly. Which explains the quakes in the last 10 years in my neck of the woods, 20 miles from Ok.
Doesn’t explain the East Wichita quakes they’ve had all week. 6 yeaterday alone. Where is the fracking coming from?
A friend suggested South East Kansas.

Those quakes may be perfectly natural.

May be. Not likely.

The cause is seismic activity along a fault. Whether or not hydraulic fracturing trigger that activity no one can say with any certainty.

@Dutchess_III Highly likely, Kansas has seen magnitude 5+ before fracking was even a thing.

https://www.kansas.com/news/state/article7540583.html

https://www.ecowatch.com/staggering-rise-in-fracking-earthquakes-triggers-kansas-to-take-action-1882024611.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2016/09/07/the-connection-between-earthquakes-and-fracking/?sh=79d595b46d68

https://apnews.com/article/kansas-us-news-wichita-earthquakes-0b8635358026eabd371a799d62827b55

Thanks @jca2. Injuries with a 4 point or below may not happen, but it will f up your walls and foundation.

There has been ONE 5 point earthquake in Kansas and it was in “Manhattan Kansas”: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1867_Manhattan,_Kansas_earthquake in 1867 @AYKM. If you have evidence of others I’ll be happy to review your proof.

Also, you’ll have to search “prior to 2012” which is when fracking became a thing.

A 5M is huge and not something that will happen often. Like once in a century where you live. You will see plenty of 2M-4M and they may be completely natural.

Care to provide some evidence of your claim @AKYM? Or are you one of those Republicans who believe their opinions and random assertations are as good as scientific evidence?

And if you do try to backup your claims, the quakes you list have to be pre 2012. It’s so much work, I know.

@Dutchess_III I already told you the seismic zone near you. That’s how they work. Small quakes are going to be more common with increasing rarity as you move up the intensity scale. “Fracking” may or may not be the cause of the recent quake. You can read about quake history
What does being a republican have to do with this conversation?

Yeah. You’re one of those.

Anyway, from the KGS, read the part about their monitoring in the 1980’s. https://geokansas.ku.edu/seismic-activity-kansas

I spent 11 years working in geotechnics and it was part of my job to service and install strong motion recorders. M2 happen all the time and people don’t even realize it. It’s the rarer higher magnitudes that get attention.

@Dutchess_III

So is this one of your questions that aren’t really questions, but are just you fishing for agreement with your preconceived notions?