--- title: Man-Made Earthquakes Oklahoma Growing in Numbers description: Thanks in part to oil and gas activity, Oklahoma had more than 500 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater in 2014. canonical: https://time.com/3833398/human-activity-earthquakes/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-24T13:59:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:25.438Z article:section: Science og:title: How People Are Causing Quakes og:description: Oil and gas activity is linked to quakes in Oklahoma and other states og:url: https://time.com/3833398/human-activity-earthquakes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How People Are Causing Quakes twitter:description: Oil and gas activity is linked to quakes in Oklahoma and other states twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # How Human Activity Is Causing Earthquakes Across the United States > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Apr 24, 2015 1:59 PM UTC  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Apr 24, 2015 1:59 PM UTC The Rock may be about to star in the earthquake disaster movie _San Andreas_, but it turns out California is no longer the leading state for quakes. Oklahoma had more than 500 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater in 2014\. Quakes in the Sooner State are now hundreds of times more common than less than a decade ago. And Oklahoma is not alone. Eight states in the South and Central U.S. are experiencing rapid earthquake growth as a result human activity, according to a new [report](http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2015/1070/) from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). “These earthquakes are occurring at a higher rate than ever before and pose a much greater risk to people living nearby,” said Mark Petersen, a USGS official. The man-made Oklahoma earthquakes are a relatively new phenomenon, the consequence of oil and gas drillers who have taken advantage of the fracking revolution injecting billions of gallons of wastewater underground. The increase in earthquake activity began in 2009, but the Oklahoma state government only acknowledged the role of oil and gas activity for the first time [this week](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ogs%5Fstatement-earthquakes-4-21-15.pdf).  A map of earthquake activity in the United States shows areas with suspected man-made earthquake activity marked with enclosed black lines. Courtesy of United States Geological Survey Energy producers often need to dispose of polluted waste underground to prevent contamination of freshwater. Researchers have suggested that the disposal of drilling wastewater deep underground may increase the stress on fault lines as far as 6 miles away, and subsequently trigger earthquakes. Thus far, most of the Oklahoma earthquakes have been relatively small. But recent research suggests that bigger quakes may be on the horizon as a result of the reactivation of a 300-million-year-old fault line in the middle of the country, according to a [study](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1002/2014GL062730/full) published Thursday. The damage caused by even a moderately-sized earthquake in Oklahoma would likely be greater than in a state like California–Oklahoma lacks the tougher building codes that are common in states accustomed to quakes. A 5.6 magnitude [earthquake](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2011/usb0006klz/#summary), considered moderate in most places that typically experience earthquakes, rocked the state in 2011\. More than a dozen homes were destroyed, and two highways buckled. The Oklahoma state government said this week that it will take action to prepare for more man-made earthquakes, and launched a [website](http://earthquakes.ok.gov/) to explain the problem to residents. Other states experiencing human-induced earthquakes include Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, and Texas, according to the USGS. Previous [research](http://time.com/84225/fracking-and-earthquake-link/) has suggested that fracking, a controversial process of oil and gas extraction that involves opening up fractures in shale rock deep underground, may be in part directly responsible for some of these earthquakes, but the USGS says that the process is only “occasionally the direct cause of felt earthquakes.” Wastewater injection is a more common cause. **Read More:** [Earthquake Insurance Becomes Boom Industry in Oklahoma](http://time.com/2890114/oklahoma-earthquake-fracking-insurance/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3833398/human-activity-earthquakes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3833398/human-activity-earthquakes/"},"headline":"How Human Activity Is Causing Earthquakes Across the United States","datePublished":"2015-04-24T13:59:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:04:25.438Z","description":"Eight states in the South and Central U.S. are experiencing rapid earthquake growth partially as a result of oil and gas activity","url":"https://time.com/3833398/human-activity-earthquakes/","keywords":["Natural Disasters"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3833398/human-activity-earthquakes/","name":"How Human Activity Is Causing Earthquakes Across the United States"}}]}] ```