The 2011 Oklahoma earthquake near Prague , of magnitude 5.8 , occurred after 20 years of injecting waste water into porous deep formations at increasing pressures and saturation . On September 3 , 2016 , an even stronger earthquake with a magnitude of 5.8 occurred near Pawnee , Oklahoma , followed by nine aftershocks between magnitudes 2.6 and 3.6 within 3 1/2 hours . Tremors were felt as far away as Memphis , Tennessee , and Gilbert , Arizona . Mary Fallin , the Oklahoma governor , declared a local emergency and shutdown orders for local disposal wells were ordered by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission . Results of ongoing multi-year research on induced earthquakes by the United States Geological Survey ( USGS ) published in 2015 suggested that most of the significant earthquakes in Oklahoma , such as the 1952 magnitude 5.5 El Reno earthquake may have been induced by deep injection of waste water by the oil industry . Prior to April 2015 however , the Oklahoma Geological Survey 's position was that the quake was most likely due to natural causes and was not triggered by waste injection . This was one of many earthquakes which have affected the Oklahoma region
2011 Oklahoma earthquake
2011 Oklahoma earthquake
Induced seismicity