Kansas Earthquakes

[onewhippedpuppy]

Here’s a bit of weirdness, I was woken up at 2:30 this morning by an earthquake. It was apparently a 2.7 and centered about a block down the street from my house. This is #7 is the last two weeks, all around a 2.5-3.0 in magnitude and all centered within about a mile of my neighborhood. They aren’t the low rumbling ones like we used to get that were centered in OK and possibly due to fracking, these are a sudden bang/jolt and then a diminishing tremor. They are pretty quick, maybe about 5 seconds. Weird as hell because this is an urban area without any nearby oil exploration. Just when I thought 2020 couldn’t get any worse....

[masraum]

Interesting. We had frequent tremors and quakes when we lived in northern Japan. I haven't felt a quake since and have been a little disappointed that in any trip to Cali, I've never noticed (a small) one.

It's interesting at how many places can have earthquakes, that don't normally have them.

[GH85Carrera]

When we were having the quakes sometimes we felt not much at all, but we heard a loud bang, just like a garbage truck banging down a large dumpster too hard when it is empty. I use that description because I worked across the street from a company with a large dumpster and the truck driver loved to bang it down hard.

We had a few that we could feel the ground move in waves. We never had any damage at all, but it is weird to feel the ground move, especially the concrete slab of the house.

And from what they figured out around here was it was not fracking itself, it was the waste water disposal. They inject the very salty waste water deep into the ground at high pressure just to get rid of it in the cheapest way. The water worked as a lubricant and the faults shifted. The waste water injection has been greatly curtailed and so have the quakes.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I agree with you Glen, we used to feel the quakes in OK but they have almost entirely stopped as of the last few years. What we used to feel were the slow rollers, definitely a weird sensation.

[mattdavis11]

My hometown, Irving, Texas has had seismic activity in the past. I experienced the only one in my life while at my parents home in 2008. I think it was near 2.5. Crazy, but not scary crazy.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

When we were having the quakes sometimes we felt not much at all, but we heard a loud bang, just like a garbage truck banging down a large dumpster too hard when it is empty. I use that description because I worked across the street from a company with a large dumpster and the truck driver loved to bang it down hard.

We had a few that we could feel the ground move in waves. We never had any damage at all, but it is weird to feel the ground move, especially the concrete slab of the house.

And from what they figured out around here was it was not fracking itself, it was the waste water disposal. They inject the very salty waste water deep into the ground at high pressure just to get rid of it in the cheapest way. The water worked as a lubricant and the faults shifted. The waste water injection has been greatly curtailed and so have the quakes.

Very interesting about the waste water injection being the catalyst.

[unclebilly]

^^^ it’s not so much that the produced water provides a lubricant, it hydraulically lifts and moves the layers around ever so slightly. This changes the loading of the over burden (weight from all of the layers up to the surface), and can result in things breaking or shifting downhole as the weight distribution shifts.

Think of it like mud jacking under a patio. The patio settles as the soil under it eroded away (in the case of oil and gas, the hydrocarbons were removed). This creates a low stress zone and the overburden can ‘settle’ and is no longer evenly supported. Up this happens slowly so nobody notices it. Now introduce the mud jack, this fills in the empty spaces and voids and changes the loading relatively quickly, much like produced water injection does. When the load changes, and redistributes, things underground may break due to the additional local stresses, what can result is a small earthquake. Getting back the mud jacking example, this would be analogous to pumping the grout too fast or overfilling the voids. The patio will crack.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by unclebilly

^^^ it’s not so much that the produced water provides a lubricant, it hydraulically lifts and moves the layers around ever so slightly. This changes the loading of the over burden (weight from all of the layers up to the surface), and can result in things breaking or shifting downhole as the weight distribution shifts.

Think of it like mud jacking under a patio. The patio settles as the soil under it eroded away (in the case of oil and gas, the hydrocarbons were removed). This creates a low stress zone and the overburden can ‘settle’ and is no longer evenly supported. Up this happens slowly so nobody notices it. Now introduce the mud jack, this fills in the empty spaces and voids and changes the loading relatively quickly, much like produced water injection does. When the load changes, and redistributes, things underground may break due to the additional local stresses, what can result is a small earthquake. Getting back the mud jacking example, this would be analogous to pumping the grout too fast or overfilling the voids. The patio will crack.

And clearly that was just a wild guess and a bunch of made up terms that you have no pre-existing knowledge or experience with.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by masraum

And clearly that was just a wild guess and a bunch of made up terms that you have no pre-existing knowledge or experience with.

I know right? Geez don’t respond if you don’t know what you are talking about.

Supposedly, at least based on the Kansas Geological Survey guy interviewed for the local news, the ones we are having here in Wichita are naturally occurring.

[LWJ]

Welcome to my reality. Tick tick tick.

Waiting for the big one.

[KNS]

Originally Posted by LWJ

Welcome to my reality. Tick tick tick.

Waiting for the big one.

Or Mt. Hood or Rainier blowing its top for you guys up in the PNW.

[ckissick]

M2.7? That's nothing. Ya'll had a M7.5 in 1811 down south in New Madrid. It's 140 miles away, but you'd sure 'nuff feet that!

[flatbutt]

Every now and then the Ramapo fault reminds us of it's presence. Never more than a shake and rattle with no damage... so far.

[Bill Douglas]

Wind and earthquakes. It's starting to sound as bad as around here.

I'd never noticed an earthquake until I was about 21. A mild one just feels like you've had too much coffee.

But after our Christchurch earthquake all of ours seem to be big. Walls moving 100mm back and forth, the fish tank loosing 1/4 of the water.