Shallow magnitude 4.4 earthquake close to Snyder, Texas

Last update: September 12, 2011 at 2:13 pm by By Armand Vervaeck and James Daniell

Earthquake overview : At 07:27 AM local time, a short moderate earthquake struck the Snyder area. Too weak to create damage or injuries, but strong enough to scare people for a couple of seconds.

Update 21:56 UTC :  We have noticed 2 +2aftershocks so far :
– 20:31 UTC or  03:31 PM LT –  2.7 magnitude @ 5 km : Epicenter location
– 18:36 UTC or  01:36 PM LT –  2.5 magnitude @ 5 km : Epicenter location

Update 20:20 UTC : was this quake caused by fracking of the oil industry ?  This a a (nameless) comment we received a couple of minutes ago : “i slept thru it but i work in the oil fields near and around where the earth quake struk and i am confident in saying it was caused by man. we dig and drill and extract and frac the earth leaving cavities. This wont be the last quake we create. When we will see what we are doing is creating vast damages to our earth.”

What is fracking?
The process of drilling down and creating tiny explosions to shatter and crack hard shale rocks to release the gas inside. Water, sand and chemicals are injected into the rock at high pressure which allows the gas to flow out to the head of the well. The process is carried out vertically or, more commonly, by drilling horizontally to the rock layer. The process can create new pathways to release gas or can be used to extend existing channels.
There are also worries that the fracking process can cause small earth tremors. Currently we have a lot of discussion whether the Virginia earthquakes were also triggered by fracking.

to read more, go to:   http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/11/shallow-magnitude-4-4-earthquake-close-to-snyder-texas/