According to the USGS, a 4.4-magnitude earthquake was recorded at 5:36 a.m. about 4 miles east-northeast of Edmond. USGS says it could be felt throughout the Oklahoma City metro region and more than 850 residents used the “Did you feel it?” online earthquake reporting tool on the USGS website to report the quake.
The USGS has recorded at least 12 quakes since late Friday night, with the first hitting after 9:35 p.m. The largest prior to this latest earthquake was a 4.2-magnitude earthquake around 9:45 p.m. near Arcadia.
There have been no reports of damage or injuries as a result of these earthquakes.
USGS says aftershocks are likely over the coming days.
Over the last 30 days, USGS reports there have been 78 in Oklahoma, although the recent string of quakes to impact the Oklahoma City area have been the strongest of the bunch.
Beginning in 2009, Oklahoma experienced a surge in seismicity according to USGS. “This surge was so large that its rate of magnitude 3 and larger earthquakes exceeded California’s from 2014 through 2017,” writes USGS in a report analyzing the increase in seismicity here. “While these earthquakes have been induced by oil and gas related process, few of these earthquakes were induced by fracking. The largest earthquake known to be induced by hydraulic fracturing in Oklahoma was a M3.6 earthquakes in 2019. The largest known fracking induced earthquake in the United States was a M4.0 earthquake that occurred in Texas in 2018. The majority of earthquakes in Oklahoma are caused by the industrial practice known as “wastewater disposal”. Wastewater disposal is a separate process in which fluid waste from oil and gas production is injected deep underground far below ground water or drinking water aquifers. In Oklahoma over 90% of the wastewater that is injected is a byproduct of oil extraction process and not waste frack fluid.”
