UT Dallas prof says weekend earthquake in Arlington could have resulted from natural gas drilling

by PegNews wire

Arlington's quake may have been caused by drilling. L.A.'s? Some~~thing~~one else completely.

On Saturday morning, a small earthquake centered in Arlington and felt in the mid-cities surprised a few residents. At a mere 3.3 on the richter scale, the quake could have easily been mistaken for high wind or thunder from this weekend's storms. A couple aftershocks were also reported, only registering as high as 2.5.

Dr. John Ferguson, a geosciences professor at UT Dallas, says that the seismic activity could be due to natural gas drilling in the area. While he didn't say it was definitely the cause, he did say the connection would not be a "unexpected" by others in his field, for what it's worth.

This is the second earthquake in the region since October 2008, which was a little smaller than Saturday's rumbling. L.A. also had an earthquake over the weekend, registering at a magnitude of 4.7, originating on the Newport-Inglewood fault, where scientists have long feared a much more disastrous earthquake could crop up.

Posted by Erin