Oklahoma earthquake swarms (2009–present)
swarms of earthquakes in Oklahoma extending from 2009 to the present
The Oklahoma earthquake swarms are an ongoing series of human activity-induced earthquakes affecting central Oklahoma southern Kansas, northern Texas since 2009. Beginning in 2009, the frequency of earthquakes in the U.S. state of Oklahoma rapidly increased from an average of fewer than two 3.0+ magnitude earthquakes per year since 1978 to hundreds each year in the 2014–17 period. Thousands of earthquakes have occurred in Oklahoma and surrounding areas in southern Kansas and North Texas since 2009. Scientific studies attribute the rise in earthquakes to the disposal of wastewater produced during oil extraction that has been injected more deeply into the ground. Two most notable cases include water injection, geothermal-induced earthquakes in areas previously without any seismic activity - in Pohang, South Korea and St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Two of the most significant earthquakes in these swarms were the November 5, 2011 Prague earthquake east of the Oklahoma City area and the September 3, 2016 earthquake near Pawnee, north of Prague. The 2011 Prague earthquake, at reported magnitude 5.6, was at the time the strongest recorded earthquake in the history of Oklahoma. The 2016 earthquake was initially reported to be an identical 5.6 magnitude, but this was later upgraded to 5.8, making it the strongest earthquake on record. Simultaneously, the USGS upgraded the magnitude of the Prague earthquake to 5.7.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Oklahoma earthquake swarms (2009–present)” is swarms of earthquakes in Oklahoma extending from 2009 to the present. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Oklahoma, earthquake and swarms, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “swarms of earthquakes in Oklahoma extending from 2009 to the present” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q19867683. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2009, 1978, 2014 and 2011.
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This entry incorporates text from “Oklahoma earthquake swarms (2009–present)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.