Feds Keep Nervous Watch Over Arkansas After Dozens Of Quakes Hit Region

The Arkansas Geological Survey says it is stepping up its monitoring of seismic activity in central Arkansas after dozens of small earthquakes in the region.

Six minor quakes were recorded Friday near Quitman, the latest of more than 50 temblors in October. The Friday tremors began with a 2.0-magnitude quake around 7:45 a.m. and peaked with a 2.5 quake later in the morning.

The shaking follows more than 1,000 earthquakes centered between Guy and Greenbrier from September 2010 to July of this year, when the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission ordered four gas disposal wells shut down and voted to create a large moratorium area in which no future disposal wells could be drilled.

That might suggest that the tension is building, possibly leading up to a larger quake centered on that gap along the fault. A similar-sized gap occurred on the southern end of the Guy-Greenbrier fault and it in February unleashed a 4.7-magnitude quake, the largest of any of the recent tremors.

Anytime there is a gap in seismicity along an active fault, it “bears watching,” Ausbrooks said.

“I’m not saying that’s what it is,” he said. “I don’t want to scare people and I don’t want to say it’s going to happen. It’s just something we’re looking at.”

The 4.7 tremor was felt across Arkansas and in neighboring states, though no injuries or major damage was reported.

It and the other hundreds of smaller quakes that rumbled the area helped convince the Oil and Gas Commission to take action. So why is the shaking continuing if the drilling has stopped?

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