The Meers Fault:in Oklahoma

A Re-Telling by Teri Philley

California has earthquakes!  Alaska has earthquakes! Oklahoma has earthquakes, too!  They come in different sizes.  The power of a quake is called the magnitude of the quake.  How much the ground shakes determines the power of a quake. Earthquakes are often caused when energy deep inside the Earth is suddenly released.  The sudden release of energy happens along fault lines.  Faults are fractures in the crust of the Earth.

The Meers fault is a crack in the earth's crust.  The 15-mile-long fault can be seen from the air.  This fault is special.  It is the only fault that breaks the surface of the Earth east of the Rocky Mountains.  The fault is a part of the Wichita Mountains, the oldest mountains in North America.  Once they were higher than the Rocky Mountains.  But as the wind blew and the rain fell for millions of years, they were worn down.

The Oklahoman Geological Survey put a seismograph in the Meers Store in May, 1985.  The seismograph records what is happening in the Meers Fault.  The seismograph is able to feel movement in the Earth from far away.  It one of the best seismographs in the country.  It has recorded earthquakes in the Indian Ocean, more than 10,300 miles away from Meers.  The seismograph has recorded Russian nuclear tests, a natural gas explosion in Texas, and a mine accident in Michigan.

On April 20, 1997, the first earthquake ever felt in Oklahoma was recorded.  It had a magnitude of 2.  The center of the quake was two miles west of the old Pine Ridge community.  The quake was close enough to Meers to break the pen on the seismograph.  People were frightened!