Guthrie was rattled in 2014 with several earthquakes, including some of the state’s largest quakes. To very little surprise, Oklahoma by far was the most seismically active state in the Lower 48.
According to Mike Soraghan with Environment & Energy Publishing, the Sooner State was shaken by 564 quakes of magnitude 3 and larger, compared with only 100 in 2013, EnergyWire analysis reported of the federal earthquake data. The state witness 19 quakes of a magnitude of 4 or greater.
Soraghan found California, which is twice the size of Oklahoma, had fewer than half as many quakes.
In total, Guthrie alone saw nearly 1,000 quakes of a 1.5 or greater magnitude.
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from 2.5 to 3.0 are generally the smallest ones felt by humans. Damage is more likely with quakes at magnitudes 4.0 and higher.
From 1975 to 2008, Oklahoma averaged one to three quakes of magnitude 3 or greater a year, according to the USGS. Then the number began to rise. There were 20 such quakes in 2009.
Guthrie has been the center for several quakes and according to www.earthquaketrack.com, Guthrie has seen some of the highest magnitude earthquakes in state history, including 10 in 2014. Guthrie felt three 4.3 tremors, three at 4.2 and four at 4.1.
The biggest quake to strike Oklahoma was on Nov. 6, 2011 when a 5.6 magnitude struck near Shawnee.
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