by Wesley Harris
Nearly a week after the magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck Red River Parish, several more earthquakes were recorded early Monday morning near Coushatta.
Preliminary data from the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) shows four earthquakes occurred between 4:33 a.m. and 4:41 a.m.
Monday’s four earthquakes in the Coushatta area were rated by USGS as magnitudes 3.2 at 4:33 a.m., 3.1 at 4:34 a.m., 3.9 at 4:40 a.m., and 4.0 at 4:41 a.m.
Last Thursday, a 4.9 magnitude tremor set a new record for an earthquake on the Louisiana land mass. The only larger earthquake was recorded offshore in the Gulf, about 90 miles south of Grand Isle, at magnitude 5.3, in February 2006.
The eight quakes in the past week were located just a few miles from Coushatta in Red River Parish. The relatively mild tremors were felt 75-90 miles away, but no damage has been reported.
The Red River Parish Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday that no reports of damage had been received due to the quakes Monday.
Many have speculated that the practice of fracking has caused the earthquakes. USGS says most induced earthquakes are not directly caused by hydraulic fracturing but are caused by the injection of waste fluids from drilling operations into wastewater disposal wells. Since the disposal wells operate for longer durations and inject much more fluid than is injected during fracking, they are more likely to induce earthquakes.
However, the Red River Parish area experienced earthquakes long before fracking or use of disposal wells began.
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