By Kami Klein
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) , a 5.6 earthquake rocked Pawnee, Oklahoma awake this morning,and from all reports is the largest quakes to hit Oklahoma. No casualties or damage has been reported at this time.
Posts soon after the event, from news media, facebook and twitter report the quake was also felt in Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Illinois and Kansas. An earthquake of comparable size last occurred in Oklahoma in about the same area in 2011 as well as a 5.1 earthquake on February 13, 2016.
The center of the quake occurred about 9 miles northwest of Pawnee, which has a population of about 2,200. and 70 miles northeast of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Several aftershocks have followed ranging from magnitude 2.9 to 3.5 and the USGS is expecting more to occur.
This will most likely continue more in depth controversy on the practice of disposing oil and gas field wastewater deep underground. Oklahoma, a key energy producing state now rivals California in seismic events.
So far this year the state has felt 2,503 earthquakes in 2016. A statement on the USGS website states that without studying the specifics of the wastewater injection and oil and gas production in this area, they cannot conclude whether or not this particular earthquake was caused by industrial-related human activities. They will continue to process seismic data in the following days and weeks that will help answer this question.
