According to George Choy , a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey , Oklahoma has had a severe spike in earthquakes of 3.0 magnitude or higher since 2008 . The number of 3.0 magnitude quakes rose from 2 in 2008 to 889 in 2015 , according to USGS statistics . In 2016 , there have been 572 ( up to November ) . " The oil companies have said for a long time that these are natural earthquakes , that they would have occurred anyway , " Choy said , " but when you look at the statistics , that argument does not fly . " Analysis of the spatial distribution of earthquakes and regional moment tensor focal mechanisms indicated reactivation of a subsurface unmapped strike-slip fault . The discovery stoked fears among scientists about other unknown faults that could be triggered by oil and gas wastewater being injected deep underground . Coulomb failure stress change calculations indicated that the Wilzetta Fault zone south of Cushing could produce a large , damaging earthquake comparable to the 2011 Oklahoma earthquake at Prague , Oklahoma
2011 Oklahoma earthquake
2011 Oklahoma earthquake
Cushing, Oklahoma