Earthquake in Arkansas

Earthquake in Arkansas

For the past four months, the population of Arkansas has been feeling slight tremors under their feet. Not being a known region for the occurrence of earthquakes, this new situation preoccupies local authorities and specialists in seismology. The quakes are considered small, for now, as they only reach 3.8 in magnitude.

People involved in the investigation of possible causes still don’t know what could be the source of the shakiness. The geohazards supervisor for the Arkansas Geological Survey, Scott Ausbrooks, said: “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”.

The second option could be the reason since the Fayetteville Shale, in Arkansas, is an organically-rich rock formation which releases natural gas. Drillers can do that when they use hydraulic fracturing to create fractures with pressurized water on the ground.

Although some believe this option to be the real blame of the case, the geologists don’t share the same opinion. “We see no correlation between natural gas production wells and earthquakes, but we haven’t ruled out injection wells”, says Ausbrooks. Despite of what could be the actual cause to Arkansas’s problem, the population continues to complain about the situation and they blame the gas companies. The fire chief Jim Sutterfield, after feeling one of the quakes himself, said: “That was only my second time to feel one, but others here have felt them for three or four months now”.