Why Did Kansas Just Have a Moderate Earthquake in a Weird Place?

I follow earthquakes just about every day of my life because they've always interested in me, but I can't recall ever seeing a quake in the middle of Kansas like there was Friday night? It wasn't a tiny one either.

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I just saw this quake appear on the USGS earthquake shake page tonight. According to the Michigan Tech earthquake magnitude scale, a quake like this would likely only cause minor damage, but would be felt by those in the area. The USGS reports it was a 3.4 magnitude quake that happened at 8:28pm Friday night. UPDATE: That 3.4 quake was just followed up by another 2.9.

Are there actually earthquake faults in Kansas?

The short answer is not many. The University of Kansas shows two ancient earthquake faults going through the middle of the state - the Nemaha Ridge and Humboldt Fault. It also says that there was a bigger than magnitude 5 quake along these fault lines way back in 1867.

In regards to the 3.4 quake that happened Friday night, the largest recent quake larger than that I can find goes back 9 years to 2014 when there was a 4.9 quake.

Quakes like the Kansas event tonight is one of the reasons I check the USGS earthquake page regularly. You never know when the Earth beneath you is gonna surprise you.