WICHITA FALLS ( KFDX/KJTL ) — Many were jolted once again by an earthquake on Friday morning, July 26, which came after Monday night’s 4.9 quake.

Both came from the Snyder area and while the cause has yet to be determined, scientists have theories about why this week was so active.

“I didn’t know what was going on,” earthquake bystander Michiel Uys said. “We had never been in one and then saw the plants move and the lights move and you could feel the tears like a little vibration.”

If you reacted similarly to the earthquake, you’re not alone. Texans all across the state were shaken by yet another quake at around 9:30 a.m. on Friday.

It’s a geological occurrence that we Texomans are typically unfamiliar with but while you may have heard mumblings of it being this week’s second quake, this quake was actually one of about 18 in Texas this week alone, according to MSU Chair and Prothro Distinguished Professor of Geological Sciences Dr. Jonathan Price.

“We’ve had some small ones here and there for a day, and then we had one this morning, which, right now, the moment magnitude is projected at 5.1 and that’s not incredibly big,” Price said. “It was followed by two more that I noted in the last couple of hours.”

So, what caused the seemingly sudden quakes near Snyder?

According to Price, the rumbles were unrelated to climate change and Yellowstone’s recent explosion.

Instead, they could have been consequences of energy exploration.

“They took fluids out of the ground, oil and gas, and they need to put water back into the ground,” Price said. “The faster you pump, the more pressure you put on it, and that might lead to movement on fault surfaces.”

While fracking replenishes the lost liquid, the problems may have been in the speed.

“We’ve been needing to take these waters and get them off the surface ever since we’ve started looking for energy at the surface. It’s full of heavy metals and other salts. It’s not stuff that’s very healthy to have at the surface, so it is good to try to get back into the ground as soon as possible,” Price said. “The problem is you just can’t rush the process.”

Combined with how the shifting of the Gulf influences geology, several in the region were shaken by the 10,000-feet-deep quakes.

If you were jolted awake from your slumber or felt the ground shift under your feet, Price said never to fear.

“Breaking is part of the process, so the earth is always breaking,” he explained. “That’s part of the healthy processes that keep Earth moving along.”

To track earthquakes like these or to report a quake in your region, visit the US Geological Service’s website.

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