Oklahoma

[vstevens]

Visited as a teenager (checked out a couple universities in Tulsa).  Lately, a friend visited relatives there.  They related accounts of increased earthquake activity and dirty drinking water.  Is there some sort of rifting taking place in the middle of the continental plate?  I had read about a couple minor 4's and 5's, no big deal in SoCal ... have they gotten worse?  Is building code accounting for earthquakes?  And is the water really yellow?  Wow, what's going on in Oklahoma?

[oldbike54]

 Yes Vince , all of that has happened . Waste water injection wells are the primary cause . All of the little fault lines are being connected into much larger fault lines from the pressure exerted my millions of gallons of waste water being pumped into old wells .

 Dusty

[vstevens]

Yes Vince , all of that has happened . Waste water injection wells are the primary cause . All of the little fault lines are being connected into much larger fault lines from the pressure exerted my millions of gallons of waste water being pumped into old wells .

 Dusty

What's being done to ensure the people's safety?

[oldbike54]

What's being done to ensure the people's safety?

 

 Oh , maybe that is a serious question  Well , the regulators have decided to slow down waste water injection , or at least move the injection sites , or , and some laugh at this proposal , build a launch pad large enough to launch large rockets filled with waste water into space . Wait , I might have that last part confused with something else 

 Dusty

[Guido Valvole]

What Dusty said regarding current OK quakes. Most likely man-made.

Historically, the 1811/1812 New Madrid quakes were major. 7.0 to 7.5. If not as strong as the 1906 San Francisco quake or 1960s Alaska one, potentially far more damaging. Not many people in the area then... but California is a glommed-together collection of recycled old islands and ocean bottom and etc so the quake energy gets dissipated pretty quickly. The middle of the continent is a bit more solid. So the quake energy can travel much farther and do more damage. We don't allow unreinforced masonry here in CA because of that. Lots of brick houses in the Midwest and East.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/events/1811-1812.php

cr

[Darren Williams]

Law suits have been filed by city and private parties to recover damages, such as in Stillwater and Pawnee, and that may be the best shot at any recovery and stopping the actions that are causing the shaking.  Please know that these are small and un-nerving quakes, but they are nowhere near the destruction that the poor folks in NZ, Italy, and Japan have recently seen. Most damage has been to masonry facades of older buildings.  Most bridges and newer construction are fine.  Mostly just good conversation topic and maybe another tourism attraction?

[oldbike54]

 Darren is correct about most of this , except for the fact that the last temblor was really close to Cushing , where there are uncounted millions of gallons of oil stored , and pipelines going every which direction . So far no leaks have been detected , but the effects of all the shaking tend to be cumulative .

 Dusty

[rocker59]

The recent Cushing quake was a pretty good rumble over here in NWA, 160 miles distant.

[twowings]

What's going on in Oklahoma?

Same as always...The ground is shaking from herds of livestock running away to avoid interactions with amorous farm boys...

[vstevens]

What's going on in Oklahoma?

Same as always...The ground is shaking from herds of livestock running away to avoid interactions with amorous farm boys...

Well now, cowboy.  Farm boys need love too, lol

[Guzzistajohn]

I had a client on the outskirts of Cushing a couple of years age maybe 3-4 miles out of town. They had city water, the well water was bad.

[oldbike54]

I had a client on the outskirts of Cushing a couple of years age maybe 3-4 miles out of town. They had city water, the well water was bad.

 Well I've never been to heaven
 but I've been to Oklahoma
 well they tell me I was born there (Cushing)
 but I really don't remember

 In Oklahoma , not Australia
 what does it matter
 (I mean really)
 what does it matter

[Darren Williams]

I had a client on the outskirts of Cushing a couple of years age maybe 3-4 miles out of town. They had city water, the well water was bad.

We have the same situation in my neighborhood/subsection.  Your well has to be deep enough to get to the good water. The shallow wells, under 200', have "government approved" water, but not very good smelling or tasting. Go deeper and it's much better.