Federal scientists say Oklahoma and southern Kansas face significant risk of earthquakes this year – “so high that the chance of damage … is expected to be similar to that of earthquakes in California,” said the Los Angeles Times. Since 2009, the number of earthquakes above magnitude 2.7 has soared, perhaps related to injection of wastewater deep underground, a method known as hydraulic fracturing, as part of oil and gas production.
The strongest tremor ever recorded in Oklahoma was a 5.8 quake near Pawnee in 2016. There also was a 5.0 quake near Cushing, the self-proclaimed “pipeline crossroads of the world.”
The U.S. Geological Survey made its earthquake forecast in the journal GeoScienceWorld. “In a statement, Mark Petersen of the USGS said the amount of injected wastewater in some areas has been reduced by up to 40 percent in 2016,” said the Los Angeles Times. “But the USGS report says the forecast earthquake hazard in 2017 ‘is still significantly elevated’ compared to the seismic risk before 2009.”