arkansas cities feel unexplained surge in earthquakes

8/6/2019 Arkansas Cities Feel Unexplained Surge in Earthquakes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/arkansas-cities-feel-unexplained-surge-in-earthquakes 1/9

CBS News.com

CBS Evening News

The Early Show

48 Hours Mystery

60 Minutes

Sunday MorningFace the Nation

Up to the Minute

Log in

Register

Go

CBS News.com Business

Video

U.S.

World

Politics

Entertainment

HealthWatch

MoneyWatch

Tech

Sports

Opinion

Photos

More

Blogs Hotsheet Crimesider HealthPop Investigates More

Webshows 60 Overtime What's Trending Washington Unplugged More

Radio Mobile

Scroll Left Scroll Right

The Early Show How Anthony Weiner can recover from scanda

Crimesider Abortion billboard put up as payback by boyfriend

Ark. cities feel unexplained surge in earthquakes ... http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/02/17/ap

of 9 06/07/2011 09:40



The Early Show Did Sarah Palin mess up Paul Revere history?

Gallery Huma Abedin, wife of Anthony Weiner 4 of 9

U.S. Va. inmate sues after gruesome tries at sex change 5 of 9

EconWatch Customer service leaves buyers irked, survey says

World E. coli investigation "has been a disaster" 7 of 9

Gallery Missing Calif. nursing student was murdered, say cops

World Qaddafi vows to fight to death amid NATO strikes 9 of 9

Home

Business

AP - Business

February 17, 2011

Ark. cities feel unexplained surge inearthquakes

Ark. cities feel unexplained surge inearthquakes


2 of 9 06/07/2011 09:40



Font size

Print

E-mail

Share

0 Comments

(AP) LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Jim Sutterfield was briefly puzzled by athumping 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 a

tremor this week. "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, anorganically-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


3 of 9 06/07/2011 09:40



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 tostudy 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."


4 of 9 06/07/2011 09:40



SARAH EDDINGTON

© 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be

published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Email Article to a Friend

Twitter

0

More From Business

Wildfire forces evacuation of another Arizona town

Oregon woman develops foreign accent after surgery

Customer service leaves buyers irked, survey says

Germany: No proof sprouts caused E. coli outbreak Diamond withdraws nomination for Fed board

Play CBS Video

Apple unveils iCloud, iOS 5, & Lion

Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the stage at the 2011 Worldwide Developers

Conference in San Francisco, Calif. to unveil the latest iteration in the

Macintosh operating system dubbed "Lion," the fifth version of their mobile

iOS operating system, and the new wireless syncing service iCloud. Sandra

Hughes reports.

IATA seeks to reduce check-in time at airports

Oil falls below $99 ahead of OPEC meeting

Japan says it was unprepared for nuclear disasterEU farm chief proposes millions in aid for E. coli

Ford, GM, Honda see mixed China sales in May

OPEC split over increasing oil production

Add a Comment Read all 0 Comments

MOST POPULAR


5 of 9 06/07/2011 09:40



Viewed

Chronic unemployment worse than Great Depression1.

Anthony Weiner comes clean on explicit photo2.

Pressure mounts on Weiner as new photos emerge3.

Doctors claim to have "functional cure" for HIV 4.

"Endless shampoo" shower prank is hysterical5.More Popular Stories and Video6.

Discussed

Chronic unemployment worse than Great Depression

(686 recent comments)

1.

News in Pictures

Scroll Right

Huma Abedin, wife of Anthony Weiner

The aide to Hillary Clinton finds her own husband caught in an Internet sca

Springtime on Mars

Amazing new photos of what spring looks like at Mars' south pole


6 of 9 06/07/2011 09:40



Busted! 7 major Facebook don'ts

Take it from these scandalous stories

Celebrities who died of AIDS

A look back at the victims of this disease over the last 30 years

Top 20 diets for weight loss

Which diet is most effective at shedding excess pounds? The answer might


7 of 9 06/07/2011 09:40



Celebrity Circuit

Hollywood star for Shania Twain; Plus, William Shatner, Dolly Parton, Nao

Mistaken identity led to fatal shooting of Cali

Police have arrested a 17-year-old in the death of 3-month-old Izak Jesus Ji

CBS News

CBSNews.com

Site Map

Video Site Map

Mobile/WAP Site

Help


8 of 9 06/07/2011 09:40



Contact Us

CBS Bios

Careers

Internships

Hot Topics:

ChinaUnited Nations

Social Security

North Korea

Terrorism

Capital Punishment

Immigration

Marijuana

Gay Marriage

Foreclosures

About CBS

Advertise

User Feedback

Visit other CBS Interactive sites: Select Site

Copyright ©2011 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved

Privacy Policy

Ad Choice

Terms of Use

Mobile User Agreement

Connect with CBS NewsFacebookTwitterX


9 of 9 06/07/2011 09:40

arkansas cities feel unexplained surge in earthquakes

Documents