Christ First Forum

Ark. cities feel unexplained surge in earthquakes

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Jim Sutterfield was briefly puzzled by a thumping sound that seemed to slam the back of his office chair. But when the small-town Arkansas fire chief turned and saw no one was around, he quickly realized it was just an earthquake — again.
"That was only my second time to feel one, but others here have felt them for three or four months now," Greenbrier chief Jim Sutterfield said after feeling the latest tremor on Wednesday. "Now when it happens, people say, 'Well, there's another one.'"

Several small earthquakes ranging in magnitude from 1.8 to 3.8 have rattled the north-central Arkansas cities of Greenbrier and Guy this week, and the cause is unknown.
The U.S. Geological Survey has reported more than 30 earthquakes in the area since Sunday, including a magnitude 3.8 quake Thursday morning and at least 16 others occurring Wednesday, two of which were magnitude 3.2 and 3.5. More than 700 quakes have occurred in the region over the past six months.
Scott Ausbrooks, geohazards supervisor for the Arkansas Geological Survey, said the quakes are part of what is now called the Guy earthquake swarm — a series of mild earthquakes that have been occurring periodically since 2009. A similar swarm occurred in the early 1980s when a series of quakes hit Enola, Ark.

Ausbrooks said geologists are still trying to discover the exact cause of the recent seismic activity but have identified two possibilities.
"It could just be a naturally occurring swarm like the Enola swarm, or it could be related to ongoing natural gas exploration in the area," he said.

A major source of natural gas in Arkansas is the Fayetteville Shale, an organically-rich rock formation in north-central Arkansas. Drillers free up the gas by using hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" — injecting pressurized water to create fractures deep in the ground.
Ausbrooks said geologists don't believe the production wells are the problem, but rather the injection wells that are used to dispose of "frack" water when it can no longer be re-used. The wastewater is pressurized and injected into the ground.

"We see no correlation between natural gas production wells and earthquakes, but we haven't ruled out injection wells," he said, adding that if production wells were the cause, the earthquakes would be scattered all over the region underlain by the Fayetteville Shale formation and not in just one area.

Ausbrooks said the earthquakes are occurring in the vicinity of several injection wells.
Guy Police Chief Dave Martini said the locals continue to blame the gas companies for the quakes.
"We have a disposal well here just outside of the city," Martini said. "People are suspecting that to be causing it, even though there isn't any proof of that."
Martini said the earthquakes started increasing in frequency over the past week and that the disposal well has seen an increase in use recently.

Lawrence Bengal, director of the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission, said a six-month moratorium was established in January on new injection wells in the area. He said four companies are operating already-drilled injection wells: SEECO Inc., Chesapeake Operating Inc., Clarita Operating LLC and Deep-Six Water Disposal Services LLC.
The moratorium, which is expected to end in July, is intended to allow time to study the relationship — if any — between the injection wells and earthquakes in the area.

The largest quake of the Guy Earthquake Swarm was a magnitude 4.0, which occurred in October, Ausbrooks said. The region could possibly see quakes reaching as high as 5.0, but he said anything above 6.0 is unlikely.
The magnitude scale for earthquakes is logarithmic, meaning a magnitude 3 earthquake would produce waves with amplitudes 10 times greater than a magnitude 2 and 100 times greater than a magnitude 1. Geologists say quakes of magnitude 2.5 to 3.0 are generally the smallest felt by humans.

"These periods of high activity are not uncommon. I don't think it's anything to be overly concerned about," Ausbrooks said. "We always encourage people to keep tuned in to what's going on and to always have an all-hazards disaster preparedness kit."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110217/ap_ ... arthquakes

http://showme.net/~fkeller/quake/

This is a dangerous fault line that appears to be waking up!

The New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) lies directly above an ancient failed rift, the Reelfoot rift. About 550 million years ago, a rift began to form under the present day site of New Madrid [Vogel, 1996].

For unknown reasons, the rift failed and subsequently became filled with sediment. Similarly, 180 million years ago, as the Atlantic Ocean began to open, a rift developed near present day Charleston. This rift was successful. Over the next 180 million years, the margin of continental North America moved thousands of kilometers away from the spreading center, but the crust around Charleston, known as a passive margin, remains faulted [Johnston and Kanter, 1990].

The New Madrid (MAD'rud) Seismic Zone, midway between St. Louis and Memphis, has a history of shaking violently, about every 500 years. When it shook for three months in 1811-12, this was the western frontier, and the population was sparse. If it shook with that magnitude again, the devastation would make Hurricane Katrina look "like a Sunday School picnic."

The New Madrid fault system is a series of faults several miles below the surface. Experts say we're overdue for a "6" like the one in 1895 which shook down buildings in the Charleston, Mo. area. The "big ones" of 1811-12 were probably "7"s, accompanied by a few thousand smaller ones over 4-6 months.

Little Rock is where my sister has been going for her Multiple Myeloma (bone cancer) treatment!

Several small earthquakes ranging in magnitude from 1.8 to 3.8 have rattled the north-central Arkansas cities of Greenbrier and Guy this week, and the cause is unknown.
The U.S. Geological Survey has reported more than 30 earthquakes in the area since Sunday, including a magnitude 3.8 quake Thursday morning and at least 16 others occurring Wednesday, two of which were magnitude 3.2 and 3.5. More than 700 quakes have occurred in the region over the past six months.

What's your take on this? Do you think that this and the other changes ( previously posted on CFF - Mt. St. Helen's, dead fish, dead birds, and etc.) could be signs?
Luke 21:11

What's your take on this? Do you think that this and the other changes ( previously posted on CFF - Mt. St. Helen's, dead fish, dead birds, and etc.) could be signs?

Yes they are signs, but there has been signs since Christ spoke to His disciples about this in Matthew 24. The birth bangs are just coming quicker and harder and more of them. We ain't see nothing yet!

Remnant wrote:

What's your take on this? Do you think that this and the other changes ( previously posted on CFF - Mt. St. Helen's, dead fish, dead birds, and etc.) could be signs?

Yes they are signs, but there has been signs since Christ spoke to His disciples about this in Matthew 24. The birth bangs are just coming quicker and harder and more of them. We ain't see nothing yet!

I'm very concerned for my children and family members that aren't saved...

Remnant wrote:

I'm very concerned for my children and family members that aren't saved...

Me too and should be. That is why I am always thankful for another day to share the gospel and hopefully and prayerfully see them come to the saving knowledge and personal relationship with our Lord!

I am not remorseful or anything like that. I know that my God is just. I just hope and pray that even if they are left during the great rapture, that the seeds that have been planted in their life will make them come to Christ.

I pray the same!
My children (with the exception of my youngest) have been to church at an early age - I just pray and try to talk with them about salvation. My youngest son went to church with
a friend a few weeks ago, this gave me both hope and some concern. I wasn't sure about the church and it's teachings. I later found out it was Baptist (Korean) but at least he went (maybe for the wrong reason - girl friend) but that gave me hope. My older two, will talk, will listen and are open. It's just time allowance and finding a church to attend - I have been praying about this, and I will continue to pray.

I don't know if any of you are familiar with this site, but I've found it informative:

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index.php?lang=eng

If you click on the world area you are interested in (say , "North America"), it will bring up a map with various disaster incidences in that global area. Underneath the map is a specific listing of the incidents, what kind they are, what country and state they are in, and the magnitude of the problem. Clicking specifically on a disaster will give a little more information. Going down the specific listing under the map you will find tsunami/earthquake/volcanic eruption information, again with magnitude ratings.

There are several major fault lines that are being carefully watched right now. There is the New Madrid fault mentioned in this article, but there is also the well-known San Andreas fault in the Western U.S. and the Yellow Stone Caldera. I'm sure there are others as well, but those are the three that I've read about, particularly in the last couple of years.