Cluster of earthquakes in east Wichita shake south-central Kansas on Sunday

Update:

A fifth earthquake — the strongest of Sunday’s cluster — was reported at around 6:08 p.m. The U.S. Geological Survey listed it as a 3.9 magnitude. The epicenter was just north of 13th Street, about half way between Rock and Webb.

The Kansas Geological Survey reported the earthquake as a magnitude 4.0, located just south of 13th Street.

Did you feel it? Let the USGS know here.

Original story:

If you were woken up earlier than you would have liked Sunday morning after losing an hour to daylight savings time, it may have been due to earthquakes that rattled east Wichita.

The Kansas Geological Survey recorded four earthquakes early Sunday morning.

The first earthquake shook at 6:29 a.m. with an epicenter near 13th and Greenwich. It was a magnitude 3.5 quake, Kansas geologists reported. The second earthquake, with a recorded magnitude of 3.7 hit two minutes later near 13th and Webb. A third with a magnitude of 3.2 followed at 7:02 a.m. with an epicenter at the southeast corner of the Wichita Country Club at 13th and Rock.

KGS reported a fourth earthquake with a magnitude of 2.2 in the same general area at 8:30 a.m.

Did you feel the earthquakes? Geologists with the U.S. Geological Survey ask people to report information online at https://earthquake.usgs.gov/data/dyfi/.

More than 1,600 people reported feeling the strongest earthquake, according to USGS data as of 2 p.m. The vast majority of reports were from south-central Kansas. Additional reports came from near Salina and near Emporia.

Geological survey data show Sedgwick County has had 35 earthquakes recorded between Nov. 1 and Sunday, including 18 between Thanksgiving and Christmas within two miles of 13th and Greenwich. About 40% of the earthquakes since November have been too weak for humans to feel.

The Kansas Corporation Commission previously determined that the swarm of earthquakes in November and December was not related to fracking.

“Based on our investigation, KCC staff does not believe the seismicity in Wichita, Kansas is tied to any oil and gas activities in the area,” said Ryan Hoffman, director of the KCC Conservation Division, in a Dec. 23 statement.

Investigators found that the five Arbuckle or Granite Wash injection wells within a 6-mile radius had no recent volume increases, and they were in compliance with permit conditions. Additionally, no new wells were recently drilled within 3 miles of the epicenters

State investigations are triggered by a 3.5 magnitude earthquake, though other factors can also lead to an investigation.

The 3.9 magnitude recorded in Wichita on Dec. 30 was the strongest earthquake of the past five months in Kansas, and it could be the strongest in Wichita since 1948.

Rick Miller, a KGS senior scientist, previously told The Eagle that he believes the earthquakes in Wichita are a natural event along a fault line, letting off built up energy.

“These sequences like this are going to happen and eventually they’re going to run out of energy ... until some point in the future, maybe 100 years, before it comes active again,” he previously said.

“We shouldn’t expect anything too much bigger than a magnitude 4,” Miller said. “We’re getting up there toward the maximum size that we would expect in this cluster at this time.”

The generally considered threshold for feeling an earthquake is a 2.5 magnitude, Miller said. It takes a 5.5-plus magnitude earthquake to cause structural damage.

The two highest magnitude earthquakes recorded in Kansas were a roughly 5.2 in Manhattan in 1867 and around a 5.0 in Sumner County in 2014.

Contributing: Michael Stavola of The Eagle

This story was originally published March 14, 2021 at 8:34 AM.