Seven Earthquakes Rumble across South-Central US

In Americas, Earthquakes & Tsunamis, News Headlines

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The shake, rattle and roll of earthquakes are usually found on the West Coast. It’s not as common in the south-central part of the country. But on Thursday, seven earthquakes shook central Oklahoma and central Arkansas.

The earthquakes could barely be felt by the average person, although one earthquake near Ada, Okla. could probably be felt.

All but one of them had a magnitude of around 2.5. The one near Ada was a 3.4. “It’s going to be mid to upper twos before you’ll probably feel it,” said geology professor Margaret Guccione.

Six of them occurred in central Oklahoma, near Oklahoma City. But one trembled in the center of the Natural State — in Higden, Ark., just north of Little Rock. Guccione said the area that was rattled by the quake has deep history. It was called the Enola Swarm. “In the ‘80s, in three years, there were 30,000 small earthquakes.
Some of them, many of them not felt,” said Guccione. Most of the earthquakes found in the Natural State usually fall along the New Madrid seismic zone, in northeast Arkansas. But why a 2.3 magnitude quake would happen near Little Rock still remains a mystery. “It’s not elongated along a fault zone.
It’s just kind of in a bulls-eye type area, centralized area. So they don’t really know what the problem is,” said Guccione. Guccione said that hundreds of quakes rattle the nation every year, but it’s uncommon to have as many in a certain region in such a short period of time.
Besides Thurday’s quake, two others have hit central Arkansas so far this year.

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