QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

Earthquake near Midland, TX

USGS: 11 km N of Midland, Texas

9 km (6 mi) N of Midland, TX

9:09 am CST, Mar 9, 2021 · · 7.8 km deep · released about 15 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Midland Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Martin County 26 kmMidland County 33 kmEctor County 50 kmAndrews County 56 kmGlasscock County 60 kmHoward County 66 kmDawson County 72 kmUpton County 83 kmCrane County 84 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
9:09 am CST on 9 March 2021 ()
Where
12 km (7 mi) N of Midland, TX · earthquakes near Midland
Magnitude
M 1.8 (ml)
Depth
7.8 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Martin County, 26 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2034 days ago

A magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded 12 km (7 mi) N of Midland, TX, at 9:09 am CST on 9 March 2021 (15:09 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Gardendale, Stanton.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 15 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 710,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 63× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 15 lb of TNT

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.0 on 2020-12-31 — about 2,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record since 1900 lists no earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km.

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 32.1030, -102.0957. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Martin County, TX 26 km (16 mi) NNE earthquakes near Martin County
Midland County, TX 33 km (21 mi) SSE earthquakes near Midland County
Ector County, TX 50 km (31 mi) WSW earthquakes near Ector County
Andrews County, TX 56 km (35 mi) WNW earthquakes near Andrews County
Glasscock County, TX 60 km (37 mi) ESE earthquakes near Glasscock County
Howard County, TX 66 km (41 mi) ENE earthquakes near Howard County

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

58 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 1.8 15 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  2. 2.3 15 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  3. 2.1 15 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  4. 1.9 16 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  5. 2.4 9 km NNE of Odessa, Texas
  6. 1.5 9 km SSE of Gardendale, Texas
  7. 2.2 14 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  8. 1.5 western Texas
  9. 2.0 13 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  10. 2.4 15 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  11. 2.5 7 km ESE of Gardendale, Texas
  12. 2.0 21 km SE of Midland, Texas
  13. 2.0 15 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  14. 2.0 15 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  15. 1.7 30 km WSW of Ackerly, Texas

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.