QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7ml

7 km SE of Midland, Texas

· 12 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Midland County 14 kmMartin County 41 kmGlasscock County 49 kmEctor County 49 kmUpton County 65 kmHoward County 69 kmAndrews County 71 kmCrane County 72 kmReagan County 80 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
Magnitude
M 1.7 (ml)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Midland County, 14 km S
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2017 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 11 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 89× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 11 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.

Where

Epicentre 31.9418, -102.0292. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Midland County, TX 14 km (9 mi) N of here earthquakes near Midland County
Martin County, TX 41 km (26 mi) S of here earthquakes near Martin County
Glasscock County, TX 49 km (30 mi) W of here earthquakes near Glasscock County
Ector County, TX 49 km (31 mi) E of here earthquakes near Ector County
Upton County, TX 65 km (41 mi) N of here earthquakes near Upton County
Howard County, TX 69 km (43 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Howard County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 15 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  2. 2.8 western Texas
  3. 2.0 29 km W of Garden City, Texas
  4. 1.5 6 km SSE of Gardendale, Texas
  5. 2.0 6 km SE of Gardendale, Texas
  6. 1.5 6 km SE of Gardendale, Texas
  7. 1.9 6 km SE of Gardendale, Texas
  8. 2.2 6 km SE of Gardendale, Texas
  9. 2.0 7 km SE of Gardendale, Texas
  10. 1.8 15 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  11. 2.3 15 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  12. 2.1 15 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  13. 1.9 16 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  14. 2.4 9 km NNE of Odessa, Texas
  15. 1.5 9 km SSE of Gardendale, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.0 on 2020-12-31 — it released about 2,800 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

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