A magnitude 3.0 earthquake struck southeast of Mooringsport, early this morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake occurred around 5:09 a.m. at a depth of 5 kilometers. This tremor follows another 3.0 magnitude earthquake reported late Sunday night in the same region of Caddo Parish. U.S. Geological Survey Research Geophysicist Thomas Pratt says this has been occurring for the past few weeks.
“There are relatively small earthquakes. I think the larges was a magnitude of 3.0 or slightly greater. So, you’re getting a whole slew of them up there. We would call them a sequence.”
In 2024, several tremors were recorded in northern parts of the state. While earthquakes are relatively rare in Louisiana compared to neighboring Texas, tremors measuring 0.5 or higher on the Richter scale are increasing, according to Pratt.
“There’s been occasional ones up there in the past, but there’s been a lot more in the past few years and we are pretty sure it related to the oil and gas operations up there.”
Pratt says this is due to oil and gas companies injecting fluid into the earth that increases the pressure and opens the faults up more.
“One of several things will happen. Either they will fade away or they’ll just be steady state and continue at this level. That’s what’s been going on in Oklahoma, or they could increase and this is a precursor to something larger.”
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