Earthquake Swarm

A series of earthquakes have been experienced in Arkansas and are slowly becoming the norm, though the reason as to why there have been so many remains elusive.  According to the most recent geological report by the USGS, Arkansas has been experiencing about two-to-seven earthquakes a day ranging from about 1.8-4.0 on the richter scale, and the trend doesn't seem likely to stop with up to two dozen quakes sometimes being reported in a given day. More than 800 earth quakes have been reported across the region in the past six months, and the region experienced its largest quake yet this past Sunday reaching nearly 5.0 on the ricter scale.

Geologists have presented two possibilities for the constant earth flux, one being that this is a natural event such as a swarm of similar quakes that occurred in the 1980s that hit Enola, Arkansas.

The other theory points to a natural gas exploration technique called "fracking" as a possible cause. The technique consists of drillers injecting highly pressurized water into the earth causing fractures deep underground. This is used to free up the natural gas, and exploit the earth's natural resources in a highly hazardous way, often polluting the water supply as well as contaminating the soil.

Though geologists don't "believe" that the production wells themselves are the problem, they think that the disposal process of the so-called "frack" water could be the cause. According to Scott Ausbrooks, geohazards supervisor for the Arkansas Geological Survey, "the earthquakes are occurring in the vicinity of several injection wells."

In order to directly observe if indeed their is a correlation, the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission has ordered a "six-month moratorium" on new injection wells in the perimeter. In the meantime the Earth continues to rumble from our parasitic behavior.