Brownback outlines plans to deploy seismic monitoring in South-Central Kansas
TOPEKA – Wedesday, Governor Sam Brownback in conjunction with members of the Induced Seismicity Task Force, announced the procurement and funding for the acquisition of a six station portable seismic network to monitor increased seismic activity in Harper, Sumner, and Barber counties.
“Public safety is my top priority,” said Brownback. “We must balance the safety of all Kansans, and consider the impacts to industry. This deployment will give our state geologists the data they need to better understand the increased seismic activity being experienced in south-central Kansas and to formulate a plan going forward.”
The funding for the seismic network represents the continued cooperation between state agencies and will allow the Kansas Geological Survey (KGS) to deploy monitoring stations in areas with significant seismic activity. The KGS anticipates the monitoring stations will cost about $85,000 and will be operational in early 2015.
Brownback established the Induced Seismicity Task Force with representation from the KGS, Kansas Corporation Commission, and Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The Task Force developed a draft plan with input from experts and the public that was presented and adopted by Governor Brownback. The plan calls for a portable seismic network. The KGS continues to develop a permanent statewide seismic network in addition to the portable network that was partially funded during the last legislative session.
Thus far in 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center has recorded 93 earthquakes in Kansas, ranging from a magnitude 1.3 to 4.3, nearly all in Sumner, Harper, and Barber counties. This is an increase over 2013 and prior years.
According to the United States Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center, there was a 4.8 magnitude quake at 3:40 p.m. Wednesday centered about eight miles south of Conway Springs in Sumner County.
However, the trembler was felt by residents of Barton County, including employees at the Barton County Courthouse and many downtown businesses. There were reports of lights, computers, plants and bookcases shaking.
There were also numerous posts on the Great Bend Tribune Facebook page from residents who wondered what had happened.
Barton County commissioners and officials attending the Kansas Association of Counties convention in Wichita said the felt the movement as well.
However, the shaking was not felt by everyone locally, including those at the Great Bend Municipal Airport and the Barton County Landfill.
Emanating from 3.3 miles below the earth’s surface, it was one of six quakes reported in Kansas and Oklahoma Wednesday rated at 2.5 or greater on the Richter scale, and one of 40-some such quakes reported globally, the USGS reported.
The Richter scale is used to rate the magnitude of an earthquake by the amount of energy released, according to the USGS. This is calculated using information gathered by a seismograph.
The Richter scale is ten-base logarithmic scale, meaning that whole-number jumps indicate a tenfold increase. In this case, the increase is in wave amplitude. That is, the wave amplitude in a level 6 earthquake is 10 times greater than in a level 5 earthquake, and the amplitude increases 100 times between a level 7 earthquake and a level 9 earthquake. The amount of energy released increases 31.7 times between whole number values.
It was developed in 1935 by Charles F. Richter of the California Institute of Technology.
