LITTLE ROCK — At least 14 earthquakes shook near Guy in Faulkner County on Wednesday, following a cyclical pattern that geologists have noticed occurring since the quakes began in September.
The U.S. Geological Survey recorded the largest temblor at 3:46 p.m. Wednesday, registering 3.5 in magnitude.
Other quakes ranged from 2.1 to 2.9 in magnitude Wednesday. Geologists recorded seven earthquakes in the area Tuesday.
No injuries or damage were reported.
This week’s quakes are centered a few miles farther north than the hundreds that have rattled the area since September, although they are along the same fault system, said Scott Ausbrooks, geohazards supervisor with the Arkansas Geological Survey.
The events have followed a pattern, he said.
The temblors seem dormant during the first of the month, but then pick up in intensity and by midmonth occur frequently. They then taper off again by the end of the month, only to repeat the pattern the next month.
The quakes are replicating the 1982 Enola Swarm, a seismic fault that created thousands of small earthquakes nearly 30 years ago about 15 miles southeast of Guy.
“I felt one a few minutes ago,” Wendy Grimes, a court clerk with the city, said Wednesday morning, referring to an 11:09 a.m. quake that registered 2.9 in magnitude. “ I felt the building shake. It was like a ‘pop.’”
Ausbrooks is studying the quakes to determine if they are caused naturally or if they are triggered by injections of saltwater into deep-well disposal sites where crews are drilling for gas and oil.
“People used to talk all the time about this,” Grimes said of the quakes. “Now they’re not as much. We’re all kind of used to it.”
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 02/17/2011