The earthquake review team at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission responsible for monitoring earthquakes will most likely be studying data from the 4.2 magnitude quake that hit Monday night in the northern part of the state.
Strong enough to be felt in Wichita, Kansas, the quake’s epicenter was about 8 miles northeast of Perry and about 2 miles below the surface of the earth. Residents of the community of Otoe were only about 2 miles from the epicenter. The quake hit around 10:30 in the evening and was followed a short time later by a 2.8 magnitude quake.
The U.S. Geological Survey also reports that a 2.8 magnitude quake had occurred hours earlier west of the northwest town of Helena.
Quakes in the two regions have been common over the past few years and resulted in the OCC regulators taking actions to curtail or reduce some wastewater injection well operations. It is the belief of some scientists and those at the Corporation Commission that the injection wells might be causing a shifting of some faults in the earth.