What caused the East Texas earthquake Thursday? | news

For many in the Arc-La-Tex area, Thursday morning began with a few seconds of shaking.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 3.3 magnitude earthquake occurred near Ansertain, Texas, about 25 miles from Shreveport, at 6:15 a.m. Thursday. A second earthquake measuring 2.6 struck near the same location just after noon.

Although the morning quake was relatively small, many reported that their homes shook even in northwest Louisiana.

“My husband had just kissed me goodbye and was getting ready to leave for work when I felt the whole house shaking like jelly. I knew right away what was happening because of my aunt who lived in Alaska in the 1970s and was describing the earthquakes there sounding like… The ground was like jelly. “In the Oil City area, it only lasted a few seconds, but it was definitely long enough to attract your attention. “My husband thought a tree had fallen on the house.”

People in Oil City, Blanchard, Mooringsport, Shreveport, Bossier City and Benton reported feeling the morning quake to the USGS. In Texas, reports came from Avenger, Jefferson, Carnac and even Lufkin, about 100 miles from the reported epicenter.

The agency said both quakes were small and shallow, occurring about 3 miles below the surface. Such quakes are becoming increasingly common in East Texas thanks to the oil and gas industry, said Thomas Pratt, a geophysicist with the USGS.

“It is almost certainly caused by man-made processes,” Pratt said. “There has been a history of earthquakes caused by oil and gas operations there, so this is likely another one of those earthquakes.”

Salty wastewater produced as part of the hydraulic fracturing process is expected to be the cause. According to the USGS, it's the process of disposing of that wastewater by injecting it back into the ground, not the hydraulic fracturing process itself, that can cause earthquakes.

“The recent increase in earthquakes in the central United States is due primarily to the disposal of waste fluids that are a byproduct of oil production,” the USGS website states. “Wastewater disposal wells typically operate for longer periods and inject a much larger volume of fluid than is injected during the hydraulic fracturing process, making them more likely to cause earthquakes. In Oklahoma, which has the highest number of induced earthquakes in the United States, it could 2% of earthquakes are linked to hydraulic fracturing operations.

The USGS reports that the largest documented earthquake caused by fluid injection was a 5.8-magnitude earthquake on September 23, 2016, in central Oklahoma. The 2012 Timpson, Texas, earthquake, believed to have been similarly triggered, had a magnitude of 4.8 on the Richter scale.

“Basically, you have a lot of wastewater from drilling, and they have to get rid of it, so they pump it at high pressures deep into the well. This can lubricate and widen the fractures there and trigger earthquakes,” Pratt said.

The geography of Thursday's quake suggests it was man-made, and Pratt said the relative shallowness of the quake suggests a connection to sewage disposal wells. The depth of the unconfirmed earthquakes was about 3 miles. The depth of these natural ones is often between 6-9 miles.

“We weren't aware of very many earthquakes in that area until they started doing a lot of oil and gas operations there. Anywhere in the eastern United States, you can get a small earthquake once in a while, but once you start triggering it it tends to Continue.” Pratt said. “There's an outside possibility that this is a naturally occurring tectonic earthquake, but given how shallow the quake is, I think it's almost certainly caused by that… It's not much lower than all the oil and gas operations, which is another thing that might be evidence that it has be induced.”

According to the USGS, there was an average of 25 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or greater in the central and eastern United States between 1973 and 2008. Since 2009, there have been at least 58 earthquakes of this size every year, and at least 100 earthquakes of this size every year. One year since 2013.

The rate of earthquakes in that region peaked in 2015, with 1,010 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or greater, according to the US Geological Survey. Since 2015, the rate of earthquakes has decreased.

Dozens of small earthquakes have struck Louisiana since 1930, according to data from the US Geological Survey. A cluster has rocked Red River Parish this year, with several smaller clusters in January, April and June. The strongest earthquake of the group was the 3.6 magnitude earthquake in Hall Summit on January 27.

Although Thursday's tremors were felt across a wide area, Pratt said a 3.3-magnitude quake was unlikely to cause any real damage, even near the epicenter. He said that it is enough to remove books from the shelves or shake the Christmas decorations on the tree.

But he said it was a little stronger than many other induced earthquakes. The second quake, which was weaker and had an epicenter about a mile away from the first, was likely an aftershock, Pratt said.

“Most of these induced earthquakes are magnitude 1.5 or 2, and most people don't feel these smaller earthquakes,” Pratt said. “The 3.3 is a little bigger but not unusual. We have a lot of them in Oklahoma and Texas.”

If salt water injection sites played a role in Thursday's earthquakes, it was not immediately clear who they belong to, their location, or how long these operations might continue.

“These things don't happen until they've been injecting for a long period of time. You kind of have to fill in all the cracks that are there,” Pratt said. “But when people stop injecting, the earthquakes disappear within a few days.”

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