Oklahoma is experiencing more earthquakes than ever before due to a process for disposing waste water, which has increased due to oil fracking.
In Kansas, earthquake activity in the last few months has also seen a dramatic increase.
Rex Buchanan of the Kansas Geological Survey said the the same type of oil production activity that is going on in Oklahoma could also be causing quakes in Kansas. He said, during an interview on Up To Date, he that the increase in seismic activity is very unusual.
Due to the unpredictable nature of earthquakes, Buchanan's reluctant to predict how many more earthquakes the state can expect this year. January was a busy month, but February so far has seen fewer earthquakes.
Buchanan notes it's not just the number of earthquakes.
“In terms of magnitude, that is similarly problematic," said Buchanan. "We had a big event in mid-February, the biggest we’ve seen so far, but we haven’t seen anything approaching that in the meantime. There’s always going to be a bigger earthquake, its just a question of time.”
Whether that time is tomorrow or in a thousand years, he is hesitant to predict.
“I don't think there is any reason to believe this issue is going away anytime soon.”
